


Sweet Things

by Cocomouse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, First War with Voldemort, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, I don't like how jkr wrote Peter, Lovers to Friends, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Multi, Period-Typical Homophobia, Slow Burn, Smut, basically what would have happened if Remus and Lily had dated first, canon adjacent, long fic, so I wrote what made sense to me, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:13:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22133104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocomouse/pseuds/Cocomouse
Summary: Teenagers mistaking love for friendship and friendship for love, waiting for the tidal wave of the war to come crash and burn what they built.The autumn of 1976 marked the true beginning of what Remus would come to think of as the best years of his life, swinging wildly between the bitterness born from the resentment of being a quite unlucky wizard, and the guilt of being maybe the luckiest werewolf.And mostly teenagers being teenagers.. • . • . • .This is certainly going to be a long one. Canon-ish until the last chapter I'm gonna say. Betas are welcome.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Peter Pettigrew/Other(s), Remus Lupin/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Other(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 55
Kudos: 68





	1. Boundaries

**Autumn, 1976: Hogwarts.**

  


"Hey, wanna talk?"

Remus startled. "Wazzuh... Srrish?" He stared through half-closed lids at the dark silhouette poking its head through the curtains of his four-poster bed. He could barely register what was happening before Sirius shuffled right next to him and under the covers. He sighed wearily as his mate closed the curtains again, and turned to be face to already-tired-with-whatever-nonsense-was-coming-up-next face with him. "Bloody hell, Sirius..." his voice was husky and raw from sleep — well, probably from the alcohol too, if he had to be honest. What time was it, anyway? 

"Oh... Did you fall asleep?" Sirius asked in a much clearer voice than his current bedmate. Well, at least one of them seemed to be alert. "I'm sorry, I waited until I was sure the others were asleep." _Oh, so, glad to see you can show a modicum of respect for people's sleep_ , Remus couldn't muster the energy to say aloud. Sirius waited a bit before reiterating, "Well, do you want to talk about it?"

"What, your lack of personal boundaries?" Remus finally got to enunciate somehow, before turning around and bringing his cover over his head. "Sure, but it certainly can wait for the sun to rise."

Sirius brought himself up on his elbow, tugging at the sheet to uncover his friend. "Come on, you know what I'm talking about. I just thought you might want to have a chance to air it out before, ugh, you know..." he slumped back on the pillow and waved his arms aimlessly. He watched the unmoved form of his friend beside him and dropped his arms, a little helpless on how to get the right words out. "I don't know, it was just a surprise and I'm sure we all will have a lot of questions popping out in bright daylight, and I thought it would be easier to talk about it at length whilst still drunk and in the dark. You know, if you're embarrassed to talk about it. Easier that way." 

"Ok, first, there's nothing to talk about," Remus finally turned around to stare at the general direction of the ceiling, "it's not that odd to not have had sex at sixteen; I'd even go as far as to say that's one rare very normal thing about me, and maybe I want to cling to it, and... I'm sorry, was you coming in my bed in the dark whilst drunk a way to put an end to my virginity?"

Sirius snickered, indeed somewhat drunkenly. "Well, if Lily won't take it, someone has t—OW, no flicking! Uncool, Moony!" He rubbed his forehead, wincing. Remus flicked his eyes to his friend. With the curtain drawn, he wondered if Sirius could still see him. The brunette seemed to be trying hard to decipher anything in the darkness. Or maybe he was trying to read Remus' expression to help him navigate the matter. "It's just, Lily and you have been together forever, we just assumed th—"

Remus' head whipped around. "I'm sorry, _'we'_?!" 

"... Well. No, it's not like we gather around the fireplace and gossip lengthily about it when you're not there, but... Come on, we've seen Lily leave the dorm more than once, plus," he grinned audibly, "we all have interrupted more snogging and groping sessions that we would have cared for."

Remus brought up his hands to his face as to unnecessarily hide his embarrassed, reddening face. He probably didn't need the reminder of the too-many-for-his-taste unfortunate encounters he had with his fellow dorm mates while with his girlfriend, tongues and hands were very much not in their respective owners’ mouths and pockets. Well, in his opinion, even once was one time too many, especially when the company included James. 

A muffled grunt escaped his lips at the thought. James might be showing the most supportive face he could muster when it came to Lily and Remus, but the latter was still very uneasy about the whole situation. Sure, he had stopped feeling like he had to act like his relationship didn't exist when he was around James a while ago, and James didn't show any sign of resentment when Lily was brought up, but Remus still couldn't properly look him in the eye when his friend just witnessed Lily show him any form of physical affection. 

Hell, the only reaction James had during that bloody drinking game (wait, was it actually a drinking game? Or were they just drinking while playing? He didn't even know anymore, he didn't know who they tried to kid anymore, it was all just an excuse to drink and trying to get the other to spill secrets, dirty details or make them do something stupid — or even more stupid than what they usually did when sober and in the bright daylight, which was saying something), the look on James’ face when Remus came to disclose that he was still, in fact, in mint condition sexually speaking, was just surprise. James didn't seem relieved, or sly, or happy, or anything at the expense of Remus or his couple. Just genuinely surprised his friend hasn't got that far yet. 

Well, to his credit, even Remus was kind of puzzled about not having gone that far yet. He dragged his hand off his face and muttered to the canopy of his bed, somewhat sheepishly "It's not like we haven't done anything..."

"Oh, believe me, I know..." Sirius replied with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle that could almost be heard. 

Remus shot him an accusatory look — well, tried to, it's hard to convey anything when it's pitch-dark. "I think you're too interested in my sex-life."

"I would, but you apparently don't have one... OUCH! Will you stop hitting me?! I'm just looking out for you, mate."

"There's nothing to look out for, I'm quite content with my relationship, thank you very much."

Sirius paused for a moment. "So that... Is that just that you don't want more? Or you're not ready? Because it's fine if you don't!" He added hastily. "It's not like there's anything wrong with... Ah, damn, I didn't want to make you feel like you had to do anything, or that it was weird that you haven't, it's... well it's not even my place to say what you should do or want..." He lost himself in his intoxicated rumbling, sounding increasingly frustrated with his own inarticulacy. "I guess I just thought you two seemed, like... In _that_ place, you know? So I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, and everything was okay with you two..."

"Yeah, everything is fine. Everything is great actually. And we have done...stuff. It's just that..." He let out a sigh and continued more timidly, "It's my fault really."

"What is?"

"Well, you know I adore her, and we have a brilliant time together, I love kissing her, we snog a little, grope around a bit, and... well, of course, I've been a little nervous at first when the hands started to get under the clothes and when the buttons went off, but I got over it. But lately..." He exhaled wearily, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He took a moment before continuing. "It's been a while since things...tended to convey that...more was about to happen, and, ugh... I don't know, I can't shake off the nervousness, apparently. Anytime things go a little...south... I just get skittish, and it's getting worse and worse lately... It's like every time we seem to go in that direction, I'm getting apprehensive, and sweaty, and overall it's really not sexy..."

"... Well, I don't know, a half-naked sweat-covered blushing virgin sounds kinda sexy" Sirius tried to humour. "Is she... She doesn't pressure you, does she?"

"No! No she really doesn't! She's been great, understanding, and patient... It's me I'm furious at, I don't understand why. She's beautiful, and funny, and lovely, and it's not like my hormones are giving me a break either, I just... Ugh, I don't even know!" Remus buried his head in his pillow, huffing dispiritedly. "What's wrong with me, Sirius?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you. I mean if you're not ready yet, don't force it? Really, I brought it up mostly because I wanted to make sure you weren't... I don't know, being all... _Remusy_."

"Remusy?"

"You know, denying yourself stuff or pushing people away because you think you don't deserve it or because you're too scared to expose yourself... Or being shy about your scars and afraid she'll push you away..."

"...well now I am."

"I'm just saying, it's one thing if I have to slap some sense into you..."

"Haha, I'd like to see you try slapping me."

"...because you're being daft about some self-hating stupid rubbish you keep trying to hide behind, but it's another if you just don't want to go further yet."

"But I want to! At least I think so. I mean, my body certainly seems to tell me so. I mean, just stay here until the morning, you'll see for yourself!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I'll take your word for it, mate! Just... Don't beat yourself over the head with it. I mean, it's the first time, it's okay to be nervous about it. It'll happen when you're ready. Until then, if you need to talk or anything..."

"Yeah, I know... Thanks."

Sirius yawned widely, "Anything, mate." He brought up the covers under his chin and settled quietly. 

Remus waited for a few seconds and frowned. "...soooo, are you going back to your bed or are you waiting for my morning wood to poke you out of mine?"

"Nnngh, my bed's probably too cold and messy, I'll stay here." Sirius stated sleepily.

"What the— Get your arse out of my bed, you mutt!" Remus tried pushing the slump body of a very pouty Sirius clinging to the sheets.

"Hmmm come on, I'm already asleep, I won't bother you," Sirius whined, "We can even cuddle if you want," he added with a sly grin, while Remus tried to poke him out of the bed with his elbow. "I could help with your morning wood." Or shove him out. "Okay! I'll stay quiet I promise!" Remus let out a defeated sigh. "I'll even let your virgin arse as is." Pinch him out maybe? "OW! Ok, too soon... I'll stop talking, I'm quiet now. Good night, Moony."

"Mhnhnm." 

"..."

"Hey, if I eat chocolate as Padfoot, will I die?"

"You will if it's mine."

"No but really, would I? And if I transform back before? Or if I turn into Padfoot too soon after having eaten some? Oh Merlin, should I stop eating chocolate all together?"

"If you don't stop talking right now, I assure you, you won't live long enough to find out."


	2. Hanging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogsmeade and mead don't mix.
> 
>   
> . • . • . • .
> 
> Saturday 25th September 1976

  
The next morning, Remus climbed over Sirius' comatose form and got out of bed, wincing painfully at the morning light. 

Right. The firewhisky. 

He put a hesitant foot down, as a groan escaped the bundle of covers he left behind him. He promptly closed the curtains back (yes, _he_ cared about his mates' sleep), walked towards the bathroom door, and tripped over something. 

Right. The firewhisky _bottles_. 

Throwing a quick glance around, he could guess this would be a tough morning for everyone. After all, if _he_ were hangover, the others probably wouldn't emerge until lunch. With unusual colours (or lack thereof). He might be gifted with a great tolerance to alcohol, but his friends, not so much, despite their tendency to match his consumption. 

In the bathroom, he casted a silencing charm on the door as not to prematurely wake up anyone. He stood under the running water for so long he swore he might have drifted into a semi-sleep state until the slam of the door startled him out of his stupor. 

"Ah, shite, sorry!" said Peter, waving an apologetic hand, still clearly not intending to leave the bathroom any time soon, "Thought everyone was still sleeping. Almost forgot I made plans with Rose this morning..."

He walked a bit groggily to the sink and grabbed his toothbrush.

"Rose?! Wait, didn't Sirius and she..."

"Yeah, yeah, but to be fair, he snogged like half the school. As far as he's concerned, the only birds I feel are off-limits are his family members."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure all his female relatives have graduated by now..."

Peter winked "Exactly." 

Remus chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sure Pads will feel so honoured that you've decided to swear off courting Regulus just for his benefit."

"Aren't I the best of friends?"

Remus flicked water at him. Peter was way too gleeful this early in the morning; probably still a bit drunk, Remus thought.

"Sho," Peter continued his mouth full of toothpaste, "wha' wajh 'jat abou' lash' nigh', you no' wan'ing 'oo 'ave fun?"

"For fuck’s sake, why is everyone fussing about me and Lily not having had sex?"

Peter blinked and looked at Remus. He spat in the sink and grinned, "I was talking about you not wanting to do the Random Polyjuice Roulette thingie I suggested for Halloween." His smiled widen playfully. "But we can talk about that if you'd prefer..."

Remus groaned and turned the shower off. He stepped out to see an already bare-arsed Wormtail, still vigorously brushing his teeth, looking at him expectantly to get his turn in the shower. "You know, we wouldn't have to hurry each other out of the shower if you just gave us the Prefect Bathroom password." Peter added as he squeezed past him.

"Yeah, no way I'm letting any of you near that room ever again," Remus replied, remembering what he considered to be the Biggest Mistake He Had Ever Done. Why the sight of the three boys bringing their _brooms_ to a bathroom didn't tip him off that it was indeed a Very Bad Idea, he'd never know. 

"Well, on another note, I wouldn't worry about Lily holding out on you," Peter said turning the shower back on, "she's maybe just a little bit apprehensive of... you know." He looked pointedly at the towel freshly wrapped around Remus' hips, and back up with a smirk. 

"Bloody hell, Peter..." Remus buried his face in his hand. 

"What?" replied the short boy with a very amused voice. "If girls' first time really _do_ usually hurt, I really wouldn't want to be Lily." Remus threw him a dark glare. "Or maybe it's just because you pass out every time you too mess around because you don't have enough blood left in your brain?" 

"Har fucking har, Wormy." 

Peter snickered "Arh, don't worry, if it doesn't work out with Lily, maybe you could ask Hagrid to hook you up with a half-cousin or something."

"I hope Rose goes out with you just to get back at Sirius," Remus replied, putting his pants back on. 

"I love you too!" sing-sang Peter. He laughed at Remus' two fingers salute response as he left the bathroom.

  
. • . • . • .

  


Remus and Peter went down to breakfast together, chitchatting about whether or not a hangover potion existed ( _'Of course they wouldn't have it in any book here, they'd rather have us learn the hard consequences of drinking too much, rather than learn some actual useful tip for our upcoming life. I mean when will I ever need to know how to transform a rat into a glass?'_ ), and guessed hazardously what ingredients could constitute such a beverage (eventually they had to stop coming up with suggestion at the mention of some stomach-churning items).

In the Great Hall they sat side-by-side at the Gryffindor table, and Remus started piling up as much food on his plate as it could physically contain while Peter, who had gradually felt sicker, poured three cups of dark coffee, heavily milked tea (at this point, it was almost seasoned cream), and pumpkin juice mixed with orange juice and a dab of strawberry jam — to each their own way of dealing with a hangover. As she spotted them, Rose made her way up to them, with a fellow Ravenclaw attached to her hip. They threw a hasty 'Hiya' to them before sitting down across the table and quickly dived into a vivid conversation with Peter about Wizarding laws regarding Goblin-issued artefacts which, for the life of him, Remus couldn't make head or tail of. He wondered quietly if Peter actually had the slightest clue of what they were talking about in the state they were in. 

"... but that feels like a gross misinterpretation of Lufkin's thoughts on the Goblin-Wizard cooperation, I mean, don't you agree?" Rose turned to Remus and Peter, expectantly. His chin still resting heavily on his hand, Peter's blank stare gradually transformed in a great rendition of a deer in headlights. _He does have the greatest gift for well-timed nods and hums_ , Remus thought, still wondering until then if the fair-haired boy was actually involved in the conversation or just impressively faking it.

They were just saved by Lily's wobbly entrance. She slumped on her seat next to Remus with a murmured "'Mngghn".

Peter widened his gaze in a mock shocked expression. "Dear Godric, Lily, are you hangover?" He put his hand to his chest with and let out a ridiculous shriek. "You?! Our beloved rule-abiding, Perfect Prefect, Mother of all Gryffindors? What example do you set for our very impressionable first year who look up to you as their model for a studious life, the epitome of purity and morals?" He mimed getting light headed.

Lily threw him... what was supposed to be a glare? "I can still hex you, you know?"

Remus peered at her, and cocked an eyebrow. "Do you even have your wand?"

She scowled dangerously. "I can hex him with my mind."

"...Yeah, you know what, I'm not gonna risk it, I believe her." said Peter, turning back to his horrendous juice. 

"You're a smart man, Peter." Remus responded, planting a fond kiss on Lily's hair. "So, what did you do last night?"

Lily grabbed her boyfriend’s teacup and sipped out of it, resting her head on her hand. "Erh, just talking with the girls all night, Marlene somehow managed to nick like half a dozen bottles of mead from God knows where. I'm pretty sure I really don't want to know."

Remus set out to pile up fried tomatoes, eggs, sausages, toasts and beans on her plate, ignoring her nauseated grunt, and poured her and himself some more tea and juice. 

"Oh, well next time you girls decide to have a slumber party, have the decency to come over, so we can throw a decent party all together!" Peter suggested. "And share our respective liquors and whatnot."

"First, I will graciously oversee the _'whatnot'_ ," Lily answered wearily, "and second, no way in hell. Last time we went to _have fun_ at your dorm, there were less shirts and pants than people, and Marlene and I had to drag Mary out of there before she either strangled or snogged the life out of Sirius."

"To be fair, there are always fewer pants and shirts than people in that dorm anytime of the day..."

Lily grimaced and finally managed a bite of buttered toast. "God, do you boys have any sense of privacy?"

Remus laughed lightly. "We live in dorms, it's not like there's much room for that."

Lily paused. "I don't think I've ever seen any of my friends naked. Well, female friends at least, I think I've seen Sirius naked enough for one lifetime."

"Ha, ha, I'll tell Sirius you called him your friend!" Peter clamoured victoriously. Lily squinted at him, making him blanch slightly. "But yeah, to be fair, I could recognise any of them just with birthmarks, mole patterns and...other parts."

Remus scowled at him, and Peter waggled his eyebrows in response. On the other side of the table, Rose and her friend — what was her name again? Remus could have sworn he's had more than one conversation with her — exchanged wary looks. Rose tried to diverge the conversation to more breakfast-appropriate topics. 

"So Peter, Olivia and I wanted to go to Tomes and Scrolls before lunch, do you want to come with or shall we meet up after?"

"Oh! I intended to swing by Honeydukes, maybe I could join you after that?"

Remus interrupted, his mouth full of crisp bacon. "Hey, will you get me some Treacle Fudge and Chocolate Cauldrons while you're there? Oh, and Pumpkin Pasties ! Please, please, please?" 

The friend — which he assumed was the aforementioned Olivia ( _oh right! Olivia Green? Quite nice, great Chaser, but kind of a snoozefest sometimes_ ) — eyed him curiously as he took a third serving of beans, bacon and potatoes. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat this much. How can you be so thin?"

"Oh, that's quite lean for a Moony breakfast." Sirius jumped in from nowhere, holding a queasy James by the arm, apparently being quite necessary for the latter's upright position. "Are you ill, Remus?" he asked in a mocked worried tone.

"Ah, don't worry, it's his third serving." said Lily, pushing a potato around in her plate.

The two Ravenclaws rose from their seats, leaving the place open for the dishevelled boys. "So we'll see you at Hogsmeade later! Bye Lily, bye guys!" 

Sirius looked at her, gobsmacked. "Uh, yeah bye..."

"...Rose." She scowled. His face turned pink.

"No! I wasn... I mean, yeah, I rem...hum. Bye. Rose." He scrambled to his seat, pulling James with him, while the two girls left the Hall. "What the hell was she doing here?" he whispered hurriedly. 

"Wormy has a date with Rose later," said Remus, pushing a huge plate of every fried item the kitchen served in front of the sick-looking James. 

Sirius did a double take, his eyes shifting between Remus and Peter. He burst out laughing. "Holy Hell mate! Good luck with her, she's absolutely mental, that one! Complete nutcase." He filled up his plate and started eating hungrily while James rubbed his temples. 

"Hey Black? if every girl you date turn mental on you," Lily intervened gazing off into space, "maybe it's time for you to ask yourself what’s the common factor that makes them go mental..."

Sirius stared at her and pouted. "Moonyyyy, you're girlfriend's mean with me!"

"She said you were her friend earlier!" Peter chimed in. Sirius turned to look at Lily in awe.

"Remus dear, please hit your friends for me, I'm not in the mood."

"...Hmmm, sorry, I have Cauldron Cakes and various sweet items on the line. No can do."

"Aw, I love you too, Moony" said Peter. He turned to James, whose colours seemed to gradually come back as he ate. "Will you be okay for our double-date later?"

Sirius' head whipped to face James. "Double-date?"

"Yeah, me, Rose, Olivia, and James."

Remus' eyes widen. "You have a date with _Olivia_?"

"Why?" asked pointedly Sirius. "Of all the girls in Hogwarts, why Olivia?"

James let out a little whine. "I... I don't know, she asked me out, I had no reason to say no, really"

"How about _'you're boring as hell, so hell no'_?" suggested Sirius.

"She's not _boring_ ," Lily intervened, "she's just... not really into your kind of humour, of pranks and various…" she waved her hand in the air aimlessly "...mischiefs." She narrowed her eyes at the Marauders. "I'm not such a fan myself."

Remus smiled and nudged her shoulder. "Ow, come on, tell me you didn't _love_ it when the portraits to the astronomy tower sang _Lily In The Sky With Diamonds_."

"You're a _Prefect_ , Remus" she muttered through gritted teeth. 

"I still resent the song choice," Sirius grumbled into his cup. He slammed it down and threw his hand in the air out of exasperation. "I mean with _all_ the space and stars related Bowie songs!"

"Yeah, right, next time we'll charm the tapestries into singing some ABBA for _your_ girlfriend, Pads." snickered Remus.

Sirius flicked a piece of toast at him. "Emmeline happens to _love_ Bowie. She just has...some eclectic tastes that I don't necessarily approve of..."

Lily's eyes widen. "You're still with Emmeline?"

He gave her a dark look. "Why so surprised, Evans?"

"Nothing! Nothing it's just... It's been a while that's it, I don't think I remember you having had such a long relationship."

"It's only been a like a month!" he countered bitterly.

"... Yeah, that's what I said."

"Hey, by the way, how is it going," Peter jumped in with feigned nonchalance. "Still going strong? Not... arguing too much or anything lately?"

Sirius glared at him. "... No, we're fine, why?"

"... No, just...wondering." Peter looked at his plate. "But you know, if anything goes south, by... I don't know, by Wednesday, say, you'll tell us right?"

Sirius closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. "Are you guys betting on my relationships again?"

"I'm not!" James squawked. 

"Only because you lost within the first week." Remus provided. 

Sirius glowered at them. "Some friends you are!"

"Ow, come on," James put an arm around his shoulders "if anything we're pleasantly surprised, and glad you found a bird you enjoy snogging for more than a fortnight. And whose music taste you're willing to ignore..."

  
. • . • . • .

  
After they left the Great Hall, Peter and James got ready for their double date (which mostly consisted in getting James to either cure or mask his hangover), Sirius scampered out moodily without a word, and Remus hung out for a bit with Lily, bidding her good day as she got off to Hogsmeade with Marlene. He had planned to do some homework, taking the opportunity of a Hogsmeade weekend to enjoy a more peaceful library. He went back to his dorm, taking some books, and his bag, hesitating before throwing some apologetic Chocolate Cauldrons in there just in case and headed out.

He was quite surprised to see Sirius down at the library, for what would certainly be one of the last bright and lukewarm (allowed) trip in Hogsmeade of the year. The brunette had his head rested between his two fists, nose in a book, still looking pretty grumpy. He pointedly made no sign of noticing Remus sitting next to him.

"Does it help if I say I'm the one who bet for the longest span?" It apparently didn't. Remus put one of the sweets in the middle of his book and bent to whisper "We're sorry". 

Sirius slowly leant back on his chair and grabbed the Chocolate Cauldron, with a closed, brooding face. 

"We really didn't want to wound you," Remus added earnestly, "so we're really sorry if it was insensitive."

" _If_?" Sirius glowered towards his friend, who looked down sheepishly. "Doesn't anyone take any of my relationships seriously?"

Remus exhaled warily. "It's not like we don't take them seriously. I mean you do have had a lot of... partners, of various... importance. But that doesn't mean we don't think you can't have real relationships or connection with either of them. Sometimes we just have trouble discerning whether you consider them as a dating-worthy-partner or a drunk-snogging-partner." Sirius picked absent-mindedly at his chocolaty treat, still silent. "So mostly, we're just trying to figure out by ourselves whether they're gonna be a Mary or... you know, a Rose. And then the conversation turns into insensitive jerks making bets on it. "

He waited for Sirius to finally speak, but to no avail. He wondered for a moment. "Is it about us not taking it seriously, or... girls not taking you seriously?"

Sirius shrugged. "I mean... Some birds, yeah, but that's fine." He exhaled loudly. "It's not like I haven't acted the same towards some of them." Remus cocked his eyebrow. _Some?_ "Okay, a lot of them," Sirius conceded, "but, I mean, I'm just...er, you know, trying out. How can I know whether or not we'd fit if we don't give it a try?"

Remus smiled. "Well some would suggest you can talk to them to see if you'd even _like_ their company, you know, before the blatant flirtation or the prompt snogging. But it's not like I think you're wrong to approach this the way you do. I mean you're hot-headed, you know what you want, you're spontaneous... Even if I sometimes struggle with the consequences of those qualities of yours, it's what I like about you too." He patted him kindly on the knee. "If anything, I'd rather have you knowing what you want, going for it, and knowing what you're worth, than acting like James bloody Potter, Quidditch Captain and local heartthrob, never flirting with anyone, and accepting a date with Olivia Green of all people. I mean he could have any girl in Hogwarts. Literally. I think the few who say 'no' to you do so because they hope to get in _his_ pants eventually." 

A half-smile spread on Sirius' face. "First, I'm the local heartthrob here. And second, I don't know if he actively ignores every bird who tries to flirt with him, or if he's truly _that_ oblivious." He sighed. "Too bad the only girl who chances to ask him out bluntly is Bore McSnooze."

Remus nudged him. "Oh come on, maybe she's not that bad. Just… not very James-compatible. But they still have Quidditch in common, and she’s bright and good-looking. We've had a lively conversation about... Erh, I don't know, something about Law and Goblin artefacts regulation? Ugh, James is too hangover for this date, I'm sure." 

A full smile finally spread on Sirius' face, probably imagining the upcoming disaster.

"What are you doing here, by the way? Why aren't you at Hogsmeade with Emmeline? You could have made it a triple date with the others."

"Ugh, she was on the outs with me yesterday, I don't even remember why, but I'm not in any shape to deal with it right now." He looked up at Remus bashfully. "Please don't tell Peter." Remus laughed and shook his head. "And you, why aren't you with Lily?"

"Er, I thought I'd get ahead on assignments so I don't get too overwhelmed around the full. Plus Lily wanted to go to Madam Puddifoot's and I can't do pink walls and lace curtains anymore than I absolutely have to. So, she went there with Marlene instead."

"Ugh, see! Why do every bird in school want to go there? That's why I can't go past the first date, that's my hardline. Emmeline is actually one of the very few I know that'd rather go to the Three Broomsticks instead."

"Yeah, well _I_ actually paid my dues with Lily." He pulled a face. "Don't know if I would have done it for anyone else, though."

Sirius batted his eyelashes at him, pouting his lips. "Wouldn't you have gone there with me?"

Remus barked out a laugh. "Okay, you know what? I think I could actually see myself go with any of the Marauders, but only because I'd go anywhere with you tossers, and you actually would make it fun."

"We should totally all go there together !" Sirius almost shouted out, eyes suddenly lighting up. "Like as a prank, flirting blatantly with each other! Let people spread the rumour, and let them try to figure out if we're really on a four-way date! It'd be brilliant!" He suddenly stopped. “Oh wait, no! Then they’d think we’re bent and it'd probably be hard to get birds to snog us after that…” 

”Well, you already have a girlfriend, so who cares?” Remus supplied.

Sirius brightened up. “Maybe we could do it with Peter! Messing with his dates and all— I mean, not _'it'_ …”

Remus tried to repress his belly laugh. "Do you think people are already betting on which of us are dating each other?"

"Haha, probably! And if so we really need to find a way to know who bet on what..."  
  
  



	3. Us and Them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for mild drug use and sexual content
> 
> . • . • . • .
> 
> Some Pink Floyd and comfort from a friend can ease all perturbed minds. 
> 
> Sunday 3rd October 1976  
>   
>   
> 

  
The damp and cold air in the castle, and the incessant drizzle outside made for the perfect weather for a grumpy day. And Remus was damned if he wasn't going to take full advantage of it. At least people wouldn't get on his back for being _in one of his moods_. Unfortunately, this meant the castle was packed with shivering grumpy students as well.

He hastily climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, and mumbled _‘Schola Foetet’_ without paying the slightest attention to what the Fat Lady was rambling about; something about the chill coming down, or the rudeness of the students that weren't listening to her. _Who cares?_ He just wished he wouldn't run into anyone who would want to disturb his moody trot. 

Thankfully, the common room was crowded enough for him to rush through unnoticed. He threw a quick glance around: no Marauder in sight; Marlene and Mary were discussing fervently over half-forgotten essays, too busy to even notice him; Lily was most likely still in the empty classroom downstairs. He hurried towards the dorms. 

He just wished no one would be there. James could very well be at Quidditch practice despite the morose weather (yeah, he definitely was — _'Bad weather is the best weather to practice in, that way, we won't be thrown off by a little rain during matches!'_ ); Sirius was probably snogging Emmeline in a broom cupboard (or rolling around in the middle of the Entrance Hall; prudishness wasn't their forte); and Peter... well to be honest, if anyone could lift his spirits right now, it would probably be Peter. Yeah, actually, he could definitely use some light banter to get his mind off things, and Peter was the best at relieving tension, lighting up the mood, and all in all moving the attention away from the issues at hand. The boy truly hated conflict. 

He pushed the door open, to hear a shuffle stand to a stop somewhere near his bed. He sighed wearily, shutting the door and leaning against it, eyes closed. "Peter, if you're stealing from my stash, there'll be hell to pay. I'm not in the mood." 

They really got lazy lately. While they used to go down to the kitchens almost every other day during their second year just for the sake of it, for the thrill to wander along the corridors at night under the cloak, claiming the castle their own in their minds, and coming back upstairs rewarded for their high jinks with arms full of sugary treats as a badge of honour; now, their respective snack storages tended to run dry way too often for their taste. Trips to the kitchens were now planned as part of a necessity they mostly were too lazy to tend to, and guilted each other into running errands for every one. So Remus got particularly testy when his carefully rationed stash was drained by inconsiderate dorm mates.

He witnessed a pair of hands shooting up from behind his bed in mock surrender. "I'm re-stocking it, I swear." Sirius stood up gracefully, a grin plastered on his face, and dug around in his pocket to retrieve a Chocolate Frog and threw it at Remus for him to catch. "With interest!"

Sirius pulled out a second box for himself and sat on Remus' bed, opened it and grabbed the frog before it tried to leap out of his reach. Remus joined him, staring thoughtfully at his snack. 

"You okay?" Sirius asked, his mouth full. 

"Yeah..." Remus frowned still looking down his lap before biting down a big chunk of his own chocolate treat. He was fidgety, agitated. Now he was seated, he had trouble channelling is pent-up energy and tension. He rubbed his neck and ran his hand in his hair, tugging at his curls. This might have been a tell on his emotional state, because Sirius almost leapt on his feet to the windowsill between their beds where they'd put his record player up, quite precariously. He didn't bother to pick a record or put the needle back at the beginning of whatever vinyl was already there, and just hit play. The first notes filled the room, and Remus saw his friend freeze when he turned to walk back to the bed. Maybe he didn't think playing _The Dark Side of The Moon_ so close to the full while his werewolf friend was already tensed and moody to be such a great idea. Remus chuckled lightly at that, which seemed to relieve Sirius. 

"I hope it's not the moon that's bugging you," he said, seating next to the werewolf, "otherwise, I think that's just a sign that the universe is trying to mess with you." 

Remus shook his head laughing. "No, it's fine, don't worry. It's actually... It's actually helping, thanks." He tentatively rolled his head around as _Us and Them_ started playing. 

He slowly opened his eyes and glanced towards Sirius, who was carefully scrutinising his face, his eyes slightly narrowing. The Animagus suddenly got up again and started fishing in his own bedside table drawer, his tongue poking out, until he brandished something up in the air with a victorious _'Aha!'_. He scurried back to Remus and held up a carefully rolled joint under his mate's nose. "Time to loosen up, Moony!"

Remus didn't need more convincing. Well, if anything, Sirius might need to hide his weed elsewhere from now on, if he wanted to keep it safe. Remus snatched the spliff from the boy's hand, put it between his lips and carefully conjured a flame from the tip of his finger. Sometimes, mostly when the full moon was approaching, he feared a lack of control over his own magic. Since he started smoking — although very occasionally — he felt like it was only a matter of time before he got over-zealous and set fire to his hair while he tried to calm down with a bit of botanical magic.

He exhaled slowly and leaned down, settling on his pillow. Letting the music do its magic, he took a long second drag, and looked at the intricate blueish swirls of smoke that danced in front of his eyes. He wondered if the muggle stuff was as hypnotizing as this. He had never had it. 

Already a bit more relaxed, he was suddenly very aware that his trousers were still a little tight. His cheeks tinged lightly as he tried to readjust his sweater, which, unfortunately, only drew Sirius' attention to his problem. 

The dark haired boy chuckled and took the joint from Remus' hand. "Do you want me to get Lily for you?" he asked lewdly. 

Remus was about to reply with a snarky come-back, but he suddenly felt the sarcasm wash away from him with the soothing melody. He started fiddling with the hem of his sweater. "I was actually just with her." 

Sirius' eyebrow shot up as he took a drag himself. "Doesn't look like she did a really good job..." He handed Remus the thin roll of paper with a mocking smirk.

"Well, maybe if I let her finish..." the werewolf answered somewhat defeated. Well, at least this magical herb helped. 

Sirius frowned. "Fuck, still stuck?"

Remus brought the palm of his hands to his eyes. "Uuuugh, I don't know what to do anymore, I can't shake it off." 

Sirius took back the joint, sucked a last puff, and put it down in the empty Chocolate Frog wrapping. He leaned back and made himself comfortable next to Remus.

"Maybe you're just too much in your head, you need to relax, stop overthinking..."

"But I tried!" Remus growled, "I tried everything I can think of, from pulling one off just before seeing her, to getting myself blue balls for a few days; even rightly pissed I get too nervous..."

Sirius paused. He drew the curtain around them and laid on his side, looking at Remus.

The werewolf closed his eyes and ran his hands in his hair, smoothing his curls. His breathing slowed down, a bit calmer, but still kind of randy. He would have been embarrassed by that, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now. Hell, Sirius has seen him in more compromising positions. After all, the four of them used to be quite unashamed of their bodies' reactions and needs. 

Twisting his curls with his fingers, he inhaled deeply, letting the cloud of trapped smoke in the air fill his lungs, and take the remaining tension with it as he exhaled. 

Next to him, he heard the soft ruffle of Sirius slightly shuffling, and felt a hand on his abdomen. He jerked half up, looking at Sirius with wide eyes. 

"What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Sirius shrugged "Come on, relax, it's nothing." He stroked the fabric of Remus' shirt in a slow motion. "We've done weirder things a few years back, it's no big deal."

"We were thirteen, we were... just, discovering stuff." Remus felt a light blush creeping on his cheeks. "Helping each other through the change or whatever that was."

The black-hair boy huffed playfully. "Yeah, well, you still look like you could use some help right now." 

Remus stared widely at him. "I still can jerk myself off just fine, you know."

Sirius placed his hand on Remus sternum and pushed him lightly down until he laid back on the mattress, still quite tensed. 

"I know, I know, it's just..." The brunette looked at his own hand, which was stroking mindlessly on Remus' torso. "You obviously have trouble letting people approach you, and touch you. So I guess it's not surprising you shy away from Lily... touching you. But you know me; Moony knows me; you both know you can trust me... and you've let me touch you back then, as you even let me approach you at the Shack when you're hurt, you're already used to me, I thought maybe I could help…"

Remus furrowed his brows and tried to make sense of all of this, quite aware but not exactly put off by Sirius' hand traveling down his torso.

"Listen," Sirius continued, "I just think you need to get used to being touched," he gently slid his hand under Remus' shirt and let his finger graze on his skin — actually, he was quite used to an overly-tactile Sirius (probably half of Hogwarts was too)— "and you might be less nervous with me than with Lily, and in the end," his finger brushed the hem of Remus' trousers and he let his hand ghost over his mate's crotch, "it might seem like less of a big deal if it comes from a friend rather than a girlfriend." He looked tentatively at Remus, as for asking for permission. "It's just a helping hand, from a friend who knows what he's doing, and you won't have to worry about what you have to do, or the aftermath, or anything. You just have to sit back, and enjoy." 

Remus' body slowly slumped on the duvet and he closed his eyes again. He felt Sirius' hand carefully settling on his hip and he jolted unwillingly. He tried to loosen up as his friend's finger lightly stroked over his trousers. The soft touch revived Remus erection quite easily, which was slightly embarrassing. 

_  
'Us (us, us, us, us, us) and them (them, them, them, them)'_

_'And after all we're only ordinary men'  
_

  
While Sirius continued with a little more purpose, Remus focused on the psychedelic notes that filled the confines of his four-poster bed, the scent of the weed permeating the air, the palm pressing delightfully on his groin. 

_  
‘Me (me, me, me, me, me) and you (you, you, you, you, you)’_

_‘God only knows it's not what we would choose to do’_

  
He exhaled, suddenly much more relaxed and carefree than he'd been in weeks. He let his head roll to the side, revelling in the soft fabric of the pillow against his cheek. His breath hitched when he felt the fingers reaching for the fly and undoing the buttons there, but then hummed softly when they started brushing above his pants. This was quite nice. Very pleasing, actually. A bit exhilarating, even — though he would have liked to jump out the window at the embarrassing sound he suddenly realised he'd just made. But the tension in his muscles had vanished, replaced by a full-blown erection that felt a bit uncomfortably tight in the constricting fabric of his pants. As if on cue, Sirius' hand slowly pulled on the elastic of his boxers letting his boner spring free. 

While Sirius resumed his ministrations, Remus' mind drifted back to Lily, and their little escapade to that empty classroom earlier. He didn't know whether after all their time together she had linked his randy state to the pull of the moon, or if he was just so easy to read, but he barely had the time to say _'hi'_ and bend over for a kiss as they ran into each other in the hall, that her lips already stretched into a wanton smile and she dragged him promptly down the corridor to the first empty room they found, with a very suggestive look plastered on her face. As she closed the door promptly, she pulled him down to her level and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly, while he brought up his hands to her head, tangling in her red hair, releasing a small whiff of jasmine scented perfume. It didn't take long before he pushed her cautiously against the door, loosing himself in the softness of her body as they rutted slowly against each other. It all felt very promising until she reached down to un-tuck his shirt and stroke his back. He shivered lightly, trying to revel in the sensation, but as soon as he felt the tip of her finger sliding under the waistband of his trousers, he froze. Yet again.

"Stop thinking."

Remus was jerked back to reality by Sirius' soft voice. He really did know him too well. And it suddenly dawned on him. He could absolutely trust Sirius with... whatever that was. Anything really. Evidently, he even could adjust to something like _this_ fast enough to have left his thought drift away and stop worrying about what was happening in his bed in a matter of seconds. He didn't think he actually worried in the first place anyway. He trusted him; trusted that they wouldn't get weird around one another after that. Now he just needed to relax, stop thinking about Lily and just enjoy someone else's touch. 

Someone's very expert touch. 

That was probably the advantage of being stroked by someone who was intimately familiar with the equipment. He clearly knew what he was doing.

Remus had no idea how much time had passed. Not much probably, even though he already felt some telltale signs of his orgasm building up. He barely registered the faint moans that kept unwillingly escaping his lips. He couldn't really register much outside of Sirius' skilled hand sliding up and down his erection, twisting, stroking his head. Sirius must have understood that Remus was getting close as he picked up his pace.

And Remus' world narrowed to their points of contact; Sirius' breath he kept inhaling, humid and familiar; the scent of Sirius' shampoo mixed with the smoke and the scent his own sweat. He griped at the sheets underneath him as he felt the blood rushing to his extremities and pooling in his abdomen. His breathing became ragged and erratic. He felt Sirius shuffling next to him, and then a finger slowly brushing against his nipple through his shirt. He bucked, and moaned loudly, rapidly undone. And a slight pinch threw him over the edge as he came in a barely muffled cry.

Remus slowly regained consciousness of his surrounding. Sirius had already gently removed his hand and apparently cast a quick cleaning charm before politely pulling his pants back on. He rolled on his back and grabbed the spliff, lighting it with his wand. Remus was still in a trance. He let out a long satisfied sigh and looked up at Sirius.

"Thanks, that was... quite pleasant." 

Sirius smiled at him. A quite rare, genuinely kind smile, devoid of any kind of malice or mischief. "You're welcome."

Remus wondered for a moment if he should go take a shower, or depart from this bed for any reason; but truthfully, he didn't feel like it. He just pulled his trousers back up and fastened his buttons. Eventually, he just decided to push any anxious wondering aside and just let himself get flooded by the overwhelming feeling of pleasure and satedness mustered by his orgasm. For once, he decided not to unnecessarily overanalyse, and somehow interrupt a rare moment of pure, unaltered bliss.

Sirius handed him the joint and puffed a whirling cloud of smoke above them. "Have you ever wondered what would happen to you if you got bitten by a vampire?"  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from Pink Floyd's 'Us and Them'
> 
> * _pissed_ used in its British sense (drunk) rather than 'angry' (pissed off).


	4. Scents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW for some explicit sexual content
> 
> . • . • . • .
> 
> The Marauders are on Mischief duty while Remus tries to contain the wolf on the day before the full moon. 
> 
> Wednesday 6th October 1976

Remus was positively restless.

The full moon was just a day away now, and he was itchy, and fidgety, and essentially reduced to a ball of buzzing nerve-ends. 

He could smell that distinct smell under her perfume — something that reminded him of roasted apple and chimney fire — emanating continuously from Lily as they walked side by side. It was intoxicating. He tried to keep as much distance as he could without it being too obvious. Thankfully, she was, on the other hand, quite calm and contained. If anything, that particular scent was more comforting than unnerving... But he felt tremendously uneasy about his developing capacities. 

Ever since he's been bitten, he's always had an extremely keen sense of smell, as well as astute sight and hearing. If he were alone right now, he wouldn't walk those corridors by wand light, it was vastly unnecessary, and more blinding than anything; as for his sense of smell, he could be dropped in any part of the castle, he would probably find his way back to the kitchen eyes closed (that's quite close to how he found where it was hidden in the first place, actually — what had gone through Peter's mind when he came with the idea of _tickling an oil-painted pear_ though, he'd never know. Quite sober, too). 

But lately, Remus' senses appeared to have developed within new realms. He seemed to pick on some new kinds of smells, which he wondered were actual odours, or... something else. He wasn't exactly sure whether he actually smelled them or... taste them? Just like the tingling sensation he had around some kinds of magic, or when approaching strong places of energy, like powerful magnets and great electricity-consuming appliances. And sometimes, even people. 

For instance, he'd come to the realisation that Lily's scent tended to get stronger when on high emotions. It was almost sour as she got angry or upset, tarter than usual; but spicier, and so sweet — almost syrupy — when, he quickly recognised, she got aroused. 

This has led to a very unfortunate night, when, quite lustful, she got particularly handsy, which had driven Remus over the edge. He got so randy, bursting with desire and lewd imagery, that he got a little too excited. He grabbed her waist and kissed her with such force and passion, it actually frighten her quite a bit. He snapped back to reality, panting and vibrating with unspent energy, and horrified with himself. He felt like the wolf had taken over, and was petrified with the idea that he could have hurt her, scared her... Even bitten her? 

It sent him into a whirlwind of self-hating thoughts, worry, and disgust. It took a lot of comforting and reassurance from Lily for him to accept kissing and touching her again. They still avoided snogging the two days preceding the full moon, though. Especially if Lily was in a libidinous mood. Those time, they actively avoided each other. 

Thankfully, this wasn't one of those times. So Remus consented to this masquerade of a prefect round, which, truly, was a way for him to divert her from some Marauder Mischief. While they usually tried to scale down their elaborate pranks around the full to avoid stressing Remus out or getting themselves in detention the night of the full, the group still took full advantages of having him do rounds; and really, any and all prefect privileges. Prefect Bathroom now excluded. _Permanently_.

So they'd plan this all together in advance, timed it well so that they’d never cross Lily and Remus' path. Tonight, for instance, as the couple was roaming in the dungeons, the three remaining Marauders were up in the Armoury, trying to manage a very tricky combination of Timing spell, self-locomotion, defensive stand, and more, with this wild fantasy that they could get the suits of armour to roam around the castle, and block the passage to anyone that wouldn't provide the password (' _Hail Minerva_ '). As much as they have worked on the spells, he had no idea if they could actually pull it off. 

Remus and Lily have gone there first —in case the timing spell went wrong—, and worked their way down the castle. They were supposed to make their way back to the Gryffindor Tower after checking all the other common room surroundings, starting with Slytherin, then up to Hufflepuff (' _No, Remus, we're not making a detour by the kitchens, you're on_ prefect duty _, for God's sake!_ '), then Ravenclaw, and finally Gryffindor. 

The lack of metal clatter in the distance while climbing the stairs to the sixth floor was reassuring. 

The muffled pace sound was not. Oh God, he hoped the others didn't take too much time in the Armoury. Weren't they supposed to take the East Wing to get back to the dorms? 

Lily didn't seem to take notice. Maybe she didn't hear anything?

Or maybe his ultrasonic sense of hearing was actually picking up sounds from Hogsmeade...

He should slow their walk down, giving the Marauders a little head start just in case. He suggested checking the end of the corridor before retreating to their tower. Lots of tapestries. Lots of hiding place. She shrugged and followed him. 

They only took a few steps forward before Remus suddenly stopped. _Oh no_. There was actually someone here. He could smell them. He reaaaally didn't want to deal with any of this right now, he just wanted to go back to his bed.

Strangely, he couldn't hear a thing. Maybe Lily wouldn't find them, and they could just ignore the whole thing — unless she decided to peer behind all the tapestries one by one. The smell was so strong though, they must have used a Silencing charm to avoid detection. Clever. Still, they were very lucky Remus was a shite prefect who had absolutely no patience for whatever excuse they would try to provide for being out way past curfew. 

And just then, he snapped. This smell. It was _powerful_ , somewhat familiar, but he didn't recognise it. Although it seemed like it appealed to something deep in his guts. He couldn't ignore it, it was so enticing, he was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. 

_Like a werewolf to another's howl_. 

Remus shook his head, trying to erase that thought. Anyway, it couldn't be another werewolf in the castle, he would definitively have smelled or sense something by then (plus, he thought, someone in the staff would have told him so if a there was another one entering the school. Surely they would have shared facilities, and would have been able to help each other in this excruciating experience). So what _was_ that?

As he approached, his senses titillated, and the air permeated with an intense energy, and this _scent_. It felt electric. Remus lost all sense of duty, will, and self-restraint. He just _had_ to find whatever it was. He took three hurried strides towards a tapestry depicting forest creatures, and snatched it open. There was a fraction of a second of heavy panting, suddenly freed from the silenced hangings, quickly followed by a high-pitched shriek. 

Lily jumped and turned around with her luminous wand up, and Remus' face flushed. 

Emmeline stood pushed against the wall, with Sirius' mouth latched on her, sucking frantically on the soft skin in the crook of her neck, hands lost under her shirt, while she grabbed almost painfully his silky hair. The boy's head suddenly snapped towards the corridor, lips puffed and wet, iris blown wide with lust, breathing heavily. After a few seconds of four pair of eyes shifting to one another, Sirius' mouth spread into a wide grin, not moving away from Emmeline. 

"Hiya, Moony! 'Evening, Evans!" he said in a cheery tone. 

Lily grunted menacingly. "Dear God, Black, can we do _one_ week where I don't have to escort you back to your dorm?" 

"You know," he said, extracting himself from Emmeline's embrace, "if you gave me your nightly itinerary, I'd make sure you'd never have to deal with me..." He turned to Remus and winked at him. Something deep in Remus' chest growled. _What the hell was that?_

Lily scoffed. "Sorry, Lily." said Emmeline straightening her skirt. "Er, we'll get back to our dorms. Our _respective_ dorms." She added, putting her index finger on Sirius’ pouting mouth.

She put her arms around her boyfriend’s' neck and planted a soft kiss on his lips before stepping out, passing Remus, who was still frozen in place. He was absolutely petrified. Was he going to lose it every time he walked nearby snogging couples? He was in a boarding school full of hormonally charged teenagers, this wouldn't be manageable. It was embarrassing enough having been drawn so strongly to his _best mate_ 's lip-locking...

  
. • . • . • .

  
Back in their dorms, Remus proceeded to tidy up his whole bed area while Sirius disappeared in the bathroom to wash up. By now, the Marauders knew better than to try to calm the werewolf down this close to the full moon. They knew he had to tire himself out. He'd usually get into compulsory cleaning and tidying up, and the others'd better try to get out of his way, as he could get anywhere from mildly irritated to throwing stuff and growling.

Out of anything to clean any further (he was NOT going to clean up his roommates areas — he did it once. But it only got him even more worked up and he started passive-aggressively putting his friends' folded clothes on their bed and tucked in their sheets and covers while they were sleeping in them. Which, of course, had resulted in waking James up in a jolt to see his very stressed out, very wolfish and irked friend answer to his _'what the bloody hell are you doing'_ with a snappy " _What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cleaning!_ "), he went to the now unoccupied bathroom to get ready for bed. 

Somewhat calmer, he tip-toed to his bed and just got under the covers when it hit him again. That smell. It was back. Still so tantalising. It would have been unbearable if it weren’t so... wonderfully delicious. It was earthy, and complex; animalistic in every sense. It somehow reminded him of the Forbidden Forest. Not at its edge, like he could experience when he walked around the grounds with his friends and get a little adventurous (actually quite restraint for them, he'd have to give them that); no, this was similar to the depth of the forest, which, he realised, he only smelled as the wolf. This probably explained why it drove him insane. 

Once again, he seemed to have lost any kind of inhibition; he didn't even think as he wrenched his covers off him and bolted towards the source of the smell. He barely registered what he was doing before he pulled the curtains apart from Sirius' bed. 

The two boys locked eye contact. Remus partially emerged from his hazy state as he looked into those silvery orbs. 

"You okay, Moony?" Sirius ventured, a little flushed. 

Unable to come up with any form of explanation of why he stood at his mate's bed, buzzing madly, he blanked as the wolf seemed to have taken back control over his body and scurried under Sirius' sheets. 

_Maybe Moony just misses Padfoot,_ he wondered. He was about to submit his theory to his friend when he suddenly saw something. The slight tinge of pink on Sirius' ridiculous cheekbones, the faint smell of sweat, despite him just having washed up, the distinct look of slight embarrassment on Sirius' face. 

' _Oh my God, he was just wanking. I just smelled my best friend masturbate and I couldn't help but to climb into his bed. What the_ hell _is wrong with me? Or maybe Moony does just miss Padfoot? And this is just terrible timing?_ ' 

"I..." He peered at Sirius' rosy face, witnessing the boy's struggle to subdue his heavy breathing. "I thought I owed you one." _What the actual fuck?_

Sirius blinked. "Well, you don't _owe_ me anything, it was just a favour." He shuffled a bit and gave a lopsided smile. "But if you so generously offer, I would certainly not say no to that!" he chuckled.

Without even thinking, Remus slid one hand under Sirius' neck and the other one over his stomach. He breathed in shakily as to ground himself, and to calm down a bit. It was no big deal, they've done that before, no reason to get nervous. Well... He wasn't sure he was really nervous; maybe just... on edge. He slid his hand slowly down Sirius’ body, grazing gently on his bare skin, until he reached the elastic of his pants. He hesitated for a moment then pulled them down in one movement. The wolf apparently couldn't handle fabrics right now. It felt itchy and constricting; he'd never really liked it. He kicked down the covers as well, revealing a fully naked Sirius beside him. 

He heard the brunette's breath hitch. He was suddenly very aware of Sirius' dark hair tickling his cheek. It was so soft. Dipping his nose deeper in his friends' fur — _no, hair!_ — he let his finger brush against Sirius already half-erected cock. A small whimper escaped his parted lips. Remus felt his ears buzzing, and blood pumping madly towards his extremities at this sound. He mustered all his self-control to keep a cool head as his fingers reached for his friend's leaking prick. Feeling warmth spreading to his toes and finger, he gently smeared the pre-cum on the now turgid cock, making Sirius exhale shakily. And that smell again.

Oh, that _smell_... Remus couldn't get over it. He wanted to inhale it, to bathe in it, to _lick_ it. And in a beat, his tongue was flat on Sirius' neck, tasting the salty and spicy scent there. Sirius moaned audibly and the wolf got loose, wrapping his hand firmly around his friend length and pumping intently, sucking the skin under his mate's jaw, running his tongue al the way to the patch of skin beneath his ear. 

The brunette was now panting, pushing his hips up the mattress and fucking into Remus' fist. The werewolf snarled and wrapped his leg around the other's thigh, effectively immobilising him. In the motion, he felt his own cock poking against Sirius' hip. He growled, craving for more contact. There was very little control left in his mind to stop him from humping his friend's leg, and rubbing himself against his side. He sped up his pace, trying with all his might to keep his own hips in place, and focused on his fist around Sirius. But it wasn't long until he felt a hand creep in his pyjama bottoms. The contact of Sirius' finger against his shaft was like an electric shock. He grunted and dug his nails deeper in the boy's neck, buried his face in its crook, his tongue darting out ferociously, and started snapping his hips into Sirius' fist, settling half over him. 

Their breathing became erratic. He could hear their respective hearts beating wildly under Sirius' continuous moan. His scent was intoxicating; he lapped at the beads of sweat forming there, relishing the earthy aroma. He felt in control. This was exhilarating. He felt all his senses getting sharper, so deeply aware of the boy's sharp inhales, vibrations, reactions, taste, smell…

As Sirius' whines became louder and more tumultuous, his own extremities began to tingle; his vision blurred, and he couldn't contain his own grunts. His hand pumped more hurriedly and he sensed Sirius hips’ spasms and grinding out of control until he heard him cry out his orgasm. The waves of energy, magic, smells, taste and sounds sent Remus over the edge as he snapped his hips uncontrollably until he saw stars and almost howled in his turn, spilling all over his mate's side, and collapsed half on top of him. 

It might have taken minutes, long, numerous minutes, for them to catch their breath. At some point, Sirius has put his free hand, the one that wasn't trapped under his friend's midsection, on Remus' shoulder, letting his fingers brushing mindlessly on his friend’s scar-ridden skin. 

As their bodies cooled down, Sirius shivered slightly, which wrench Remus out of his trance. He suddenly took everything in. Slightly embarrassed, he cast a quick wandless ' _Scourgify_ ' over Sirius' hand, mattress and stomach (which was highly unfair, as his mates pointed out, that he was able to perform this sourly needed trick), threw the covers back on them, and pulled his pyjama bottoms back up. 

As he felt Sirius getting comfortable besides him, he wondered if he should get back in his bed. Was it strange? This evening's weirdness aside, wanking each other was one thing, but sleeping together after... This felt unusual. 

Well, not that sleeping in his mate's bed was unusual, especially with Sirius. He apparently took turns in sleeping in all his friends' beds. It began with incessant nightly blabber that ultimately ended with him falling asleep next to whomever he was talking to (so, James), and the occasional nightmare that made him squander under someone else's cover (for real, James wondered if he could go to Mcgonagall and ask for a bigger bed). Soon enough, it had become a habit, and Sirius rarely ever got to use his own bed at night (until he grew up and became very fond of the evening and morning masturbatory time; Remus still suspected the rare time he didn't climbed in James', Peter's or his bed was when he thought he might want to have some _special alone time_ ).

Lost in the task of weighing the pros and cons of staying put, his thoughts had seamlessly morphed into half-conscious nonsense, and the werewolf promptly fell asleep, finally rested.  


  



	5. Love Army

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light mayhem in the castle, mild breakdown in Remus' head.  
> All in all, he's had worse full moon days. 
> 
> . • . • . • .
> 
> Thursday 7th October 1976  
>   
>   
> 

Remus woke up with a start. 

His nights preceding the full moon were always shorter than usual. Well, it still didn't made up for the amount of time he wasted sleeping afterward in order to recover from his transformations...

He turned his head heavily towards the canopy of his bed, long strands of hair sticking to his face. _Oh... right_. Not his bed. 

Quietly, he disentangled his body from Sirius', and padded his way to the shower. Facing the faucets, he pondered between having his shower scorching hot in order to think, or freezing cold to snap himself out of whatever mood he got in last night. 

What _was_ that? 

Granted, he had been quite on edge all day, fairly randy that night even before they got to the Ravenclaw Tower. It was quite similar to the state he got in that unfortunate time with Lily, when he managed to scare her off with kisses. God, he was a mess. Somehow he got even more eager yesterday, and Sirius' advanced state of arousal surely didn't help; his keen response to Remus' ministrations only made it worse. Although, unlike Lily, Sirius didn't seem to mind. At all. 

Remus stuck his head under the stream of searing water, rubbing his sore neck. It sometimes felt like, right before the moon, his bones were more prone to dislocate, and joints to flare up and freeze at odd angles. So he tried to avoid chaotic seating and sleeping positions, but it would imply staying still during the night... Which led to the question: did he fall asleep cuddling Sirius? Or did he fold himself all around him in his sleep? And more importantly, was one really better than the other? Sirius compulsively spooning whomever was within reach was one thing, quite usual, nothing new here; but Remus's never been so overly tactile, and having it happen unconsciously at this particular moment was unsettling. 

Or maybe he was overthinking everything again, and just found a new way to torment himself at six in the bloody morning...

He knew he was kidding himself, this _was_ weird. They weren't thirteen anymore, he had to manage his strange urges, and not direct them towards his _best mate_. Shouldn't he concentrate his desires towards his girlfriend, wasn't she there for that exact purpose? And would she be hurt if she knew he was still fumbling with his mates even though they were together now? It didn't feel like the same thing, Lily and him and... _ugh_ , but how would he feel if Lily came to Mary to satisfy her needs? 

Okay, that was clearly the wrong path to take to calm down right now. 

Well, as long as Sirius brushed this thing off like any another friendly rub, as far as he was concerned, he had to stop fretting about it and just forget the whole thing.

But something kept bugging him. He couldn't get his mind off that vivid smell. He's pretty sure he's been fairly close to Sirius when the latter engaged in self-pleasure — even awkward teenage boys group activities aside. He's never experienced that kind of scent before. Was it a new unfortunate faculty he’s just developed? Was it just because of the moon? Was it actually something to do with Emmeline? 

Oh, bugger, did he smell _Emmeline_?

He groaned in frustration and turned the tap all the way to icy. He didn't want to think about it anymore than he had to, he had other fish to fry. He'll just overlook it. Maybe the smell wouldn't occur again. 

Ignoring the slight frustrated feeling rising in his chest at that thought, he turned the water off, hastily dressed up, and packed his bag before sneaking off the dorm.

Already fidgety, the werewolf pondered his options. Breakfast wasn't until over an hour away (to his grumbling stomach's dismay); the library was closed; all his future assignment were finished, all he could do in that matter was to read ahead, but he would have a hard time focusing right now. Sometimes, he wished he had any inclination towards sports and physical activities; it would probably have been a great outlet for his overflowing, unspent energy. 

Maybe he could venture to practice some advanced spell, and more complex non-verbal spells. This seemed the best time for that, as his magic seemed consistently more powerful around the full moon (or probably the worst time, as he had much less control over it). Still, it wasn’t like there was any responsible staff roaming the castle at six in the bloody morning to remind him that magic wasn't allowed in the corridors...

  
. • . • . • .

After a few shattered displays and frightened painted figures scampering out of their frames, he finally moved along, deciding against any further magical experimentation, and picked up the Map in his bag. It was one of his favourite things to tinker with. They've been on and off about it almost from the beginning of their time at Hogwarts, and while his fellow Marauders had deemed it good enough and finished on numerous occasions, he kept wanting to upgrade it; make it more useful, serviceable, more accurate, detailed and precise. He's been obsessing about the moving aspect of the architecture lately, which the map couldn't track at first, but after some research and experimental spells, he thought he finally managed it. Just had to test it then. 

Strolling through the halls and corridors, he spent the next forty-five minutes going up and down the castle, making sure the indications of the map regarding the known temperamental rooms were accurate and timely. Stopping every now and then to study cupboards, and scrutinising paintings and tapestries to make sure there wasn't new rooms or passages they'd have missed along the way. He had almost finished all of his probing, until, nose glued to the map, he almost crashed into someone. 

Well, not someone. Something. A suit of armour was standing right in front of him, in the middle of the corridor, firmly grounded and unflinching. Remus stood still for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. Unsure, he took a small step aside and... 

_'Anybodyyyy... '_

The echoing harmonies emitted by the metallic soldier startled him.

_'Find me-e-ee'_

_'Somebody to-ooo love...._

Suddenly the suit of armour spun around and walked awkwardly away from Remus.

_Well, that was unexpected._

To be fair, why did he expect the prank to go according to the initial plan anyway? The Marauders went so far in disregarding rules that chaos wasn't enough for them. They had to create chaos within the chaos. There was no doubt at this point that if any elaborate prank they've done had followed any kind of outlined plan, it was only because Remus was deeply involved and made sure they didn't improvise on any wild ideas that suddenly popped in their brains, fully disregarding inevitable consequences (and earning themselves three years worth of detention). 

His eyes back to the Map, he spotted James' going down the stairs. At this hour, he was certainly heading to the Quidditch pitch. Remus took a sharp turn and climbed into the hole that led to a shortcut. He got to the entrance just a few seconds before James did, after running in another wandering shell of a soldier that was apparently reciting a borderline erotic wizard poem to the painting of a scruffy-looking man who seemed to have just woken up, and was quite put off by the bawdy limericks. 

"Hiya Moony!" James called to him with a small yawn. "What are you up to this early in the morning?" He lifted his luxurious broom up. "Fancy a spin around the pitch?"

"Ugh, I'm this close to actually join you in the air. I just couldn't sleep."

"Moon's bugging you?"

Remus waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry, I'm just restless."

As they stepped outside, a large fog was coming up from the lake and the forest. It was definitively getting cold at this time of year and at this hour, but Remus was already burning up. 

"I ran into two lost soldiers this morning..."

James beamed. "Oh yeah? I didn't see any, I didn't know if it would have worked at all!"

"Well, I don't know what was your plan, but I was serenaded by a very metallic-sounding Freddie Mercury, while the purple-coated dining man next to the Great Entrance was courted with some quite racy poetry."

"Yeah, well, Wormtail wanted to get one to sing er... I don't remember the song. Anyway he wanted to get one to sing to Rose, and Padfoot scolded him about it not being a personal messenger service; and it got out of hand, and Pads said that he'll get his own army to sing his songs then, and..." he ruffled his hair with a sigh, "Well, you can guess the rest, Sirius sulked and got probably half of the army to sing the entire Dinosaur's discography—"

"Dino—do you mean T. Rex?" Remus face-palmed. After all those years of Sirius and him pestering the two others with T. Rex, you'd think James would have remembered the name. 

"Yeah, whatever. Then I wanted to make it block the classrooms, and Wormy suddenly said we should get them to annoy the Slytherins all day, so Pads and he got excited about that and tried to come up with ways to make them go after Snape and Regulus, and the all gang of creeps: Mulciber, Crouch..."

"Is that why you guys took so long to go back? I thought I heard you hurry back when we came up."

"Oh, yeah, it took us way longer than expected. At some point, we wondered if we'd better come back after you'd finish your round. Plus Padfoot wanted us to make a detour by the Ravenclaw Tower. I tried to argue, but Wormtail wanted to see if he could get to see Rose there, and..." James put his hand up his forehead in mock despair. "What's a lone man to do against two horny teenagers? Anyway, we couldn't figure out the password anyway, and we saw you and Lily making your way back up on the Map, so Peter and I ran off. We let Sirius there though, I don't know if you saw him."

Remus made a noncommittal sound. They had just arrived to the pitch, and he suggested helping James with the Quidditch trunk. 

James grabbed the Quaffle and flew up the air in an instant. His style never ceased to impress Remus. While he wasn't so interested in the sport, looking at James flying was always quite a sight. He sat on the edge of the open chest, eyes glued to James' loops and sharp turns. The first time he saw him grab the Quaffle to fly alone up there, he thought it was just force of habit. Turns out, flying alone didn't stop him from scoring goals and fly after the ball to catch it before it fell out of bound. 

The chest kept rattling under Remus, with the two Bludgers struggling to get out of their shackles. The werewolf felt quite like them right now. Captive. About to burst out. His skin got itchy again. He reached down the little pocket in the middle and took the small golden engraved globe out of it. As he held it between two fingers, the Snitch spread its metallic wings and started to swish them wildly. He let it go for a moment then caught it back. He had always thought it was quite annoying when James did that, but in his agitated state, the concentration he had to muster to keep his eyes on it actually helped him clear his head. 

After about thirty minutes of flying around, and vague threats of freeing the Bludgers if they didn't go to the Great Hall for breakfast soon, they put the trunk back and walked to the castle. 

While James left him there to wash up before breakfast, Remus got to the Great Hall and joined Lily who was already seated at the Gryffindor table. As he approached her, she shot him an irritated look, chewing on her buttered toast. 

_Oooooh, bollocks, does she know?_

He sat next to her, a bit unsure, not daring to kiss her cheek. She put down her toast, looking in the distance, away from him, and asked with an exasperated tone. 

"Would you care to explain why I had to stun a suit of armour that followed me around singing _April Come She Will_?"

Remus froze. He tried with all his might to mask his growing smile.

"Well, Lily, that's not fair! Now I don't know whether I should take credit for that or not..."

She rolled her eyes. 

"Come on, I was with you during the round, you know I couldn't have done it."

"And how come you know when it has been done then?" she replied with an accusatory tone.

"I... Hum."

Lily looked at him deadpanned. "I can't begin to fathom the excruciating disarray Professor McGonagall went through when she had to pick one of you boys for Prefect."

"Well, at least you have to share prefect duties with me." He pecked her cheek sweetly. "Imagine having to team up with any of the others." Her eyes widened in horror.

Gradually, the Great Hall filled up with students, and Remus began buzzing again. James and Peter had arrived shortly after Remus wolfed down his first breakfast serving, and after a while, Sirius appeared with Emmeline at his arm. 

Remus focused all his attention on his plate. He was quite afraid to lose it again, right now, surrounded by everyone. When they settled across the table, he relaxed a little; there was no strange feeling anymore, no particular agitation. It was just an unfortunate occurrence then. Right? 

He chanced a quick glance up. Emmeline sure was pretty. With her long brown wavy hair, her dark almond eyes and her long tanned neck, he got why heads turned in her wake. And while she was very attractive, he's never really spared her a second look before. He tried to inhale deeply, to see if he could smell anything like last night. It was hard to smell anything over the sumptuous spread that laid on the table. He helped himself with more bacon and sausages. Let's just forget about all this. If anything, he should be grateful not to smell anything too drawing emanating from his best mate's girlfriend. While his own girlfriend sat right by his side, nonetheless. 

  
. • . • . • .

  
The rest of the day went without an itch. They'd regularly run into wandering suits of armours, they even crossed the path of a screaming group of first years who tried to run away from one soldier that was following them screaming _'This ain't Rock'n'Roll! This is genocide!'_. Of course, the day of the moon was always a bit hard for him, school wise. He was awfully fidgety, and had a hard time focusing, but the teachers were used to it by now and had learnt to ignore it and spared him. He was just happy not to have any class with the Slytherins today; at least he wouldn't have to deal with a snarky Snape (and whatever army Peter and Sirius have sent after him or Mulciber). 

Sirius has made absolutely no comment about the night before. He was even strangely quiet. Even though the Animagus used to tune it down before the transformation, Remus couldn't help wondering if he was upset in any way. Maybe he should confront him about it; after all, bottling things up never ended well for them. 

On their way to Ancient Runes, he decided that it would probably be the best time for a chat. They were the only two Gryffindors that took the course, so they'd have some privacy. After stepping over a suit of armour that laid face down on the ground, they stopped and leaned against the stone wall near the classroom. He was trying to think about how to lay it out when Sirius jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah, I'm... You know."

"Want to skip Transfiguration later? You kinda look like shite, you could use a kip."

"Oh, thanks, that really warms my heart," Remus replied with his usual sarcasm. "I'll be fine, I couldn't sleep to save my life right now."

"Oh Merlin, you'll just run around all night tonight aren't you?" Sirius stretched and yawned loudly. "Well, if you could take notes for me then, I think I'll just sleep through the day in preparation."

Remus chuckled. "When aren't I taking notes for you?"

Oh well, maybe they didn't _need_ to talk about anything. He was even more relieved when Sirius started drawing on his arm when the parchment he was supposed to take notes on was too crowded with doodles. He was just being is usual self, and did not shy away from contact with Remus, so everything was all right, then. 

He was particularly worried to go through a full moon when at odds with Sirius. Lately, he had really counted on the Animagi to ease him through his transformations, and he always feared tensions in the group would unleash in their respective animal forms. And while having James and Peter was great for him, as Prongs could always run after him and was large enough to contain the wolf; and Wormtail, being small and fast, could zigzag between Moony's paws and effectively entertain him and keeping him in place for a while; but Sirius' canine form was the greatest companion to Moony. And while he had never had real tension with either James or Peter, so it wouldn't have shown during those nights anyway, the few times Sirius and Remus had had unresolved friction before the transformation, it had really affected Moony's mood. 

So he couldn't afford messing things up right before the full. Or have them missing on their monthly ritual for some stupid prank that had gone awry. 

Fortunately, even the suit of armour clanging against McGonagall's classroom during Transfiguration and singing _Across The Universe_ through the door didn't land any of them in detention.

Maybe she was a Beatles fan.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Various lyrics and references from, in order:  
> \- Queen's _'Somebody to Love'_  
>  \- Simon and Garfunkel's _'April Come She Will'_  
>  \- David Bowie's _'Diamond Dogs'_  
>  \- The Beatles' _'Across the Universe'_


	6. Furry Bludger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Full moons are exhausting. And so is Moony.
> 
> Friday 8th October 1976

Remus could barely keep his eyes open. 

Why on earth did he insist on coming back to class so soon after his transformation? Given, it has been a scratch free night, but it certainly hasn’t been a quiet one. Even though he didn’t have actual memories from his time as a wolf, there were some circumstances under which, even in human form, he'd have some kind of reminiscence of his wolf experiences. Recollections of the night. Like flashes. Feelings and emotions mostly. 

For instance, when the Animagi led him deep into the forest and the wolf was overly stimulated, he could actually have some lingering sensations throughout the following day.

Sometimes, it had been because of an encounter with a strong magical creature hidden in the woods that had titillated Moony's curiosity, and he'd have some kind of flesh memory of this magic. But most of the time, what his body would remember was how he’s been running wildly with Prongs and chasing him, getting utterly confused trying to follow Wormtail that zigzaged between his paws, and how he wouldn’t stop playing madly with Padfoot. The Marauders called those exhausting nights _‘Babysitter Nights’_ (‘ _you were like a huge furry Bludger_ ’ James had said to him once).

As Remus was so high on raw energy some full moons, it was so intense and draining for the Animagi, they couldn’t keep up with his pace all night. So they’d take turn in distracting Moony.

And, sometimes, he had what they came to call his _‘Canine Nights’_. Nights where he apparently couldn’t be bothered with anything other than Padfoot. The first ones had kind of unsettled James. He had been worried that Moony would injure the dog. But it had never resulted in anything more than very mild injuries. Scratches and sprained wrist — which Sirius insisted was entirely from his own doing. And the longer they kept on playing together, the more careful Moony got around them. Moony and Padfoot had learnt to play with each other and pushed their scuffles to their limits, cautious not to cross them so no one would get hurt (quite like how their human selves had finally learnt — somehow, they’ve been less dangerous and harmful to one another as dog and monstrous beast than as teenage boys).

So they’d keep playing all night long, while alternatively, Prongs and Wormtail would try to stir Moony away from Padfoot so the dog could get a rest. To no avail. 

This would explain Sirius’ current zombie-like state.

The Animagus had stopped any pretences of taking notes five minutes into the lecture, and was currently sleeping with his eyes opened, his head propped up on his elbow. On his end, Remus thought he should probably stop scribbling whatever was going on, because his _'writing'_ was currently re-looping on itself and smudging his earlier notes that had somewhat resembled Arithmancy. Probably. 

At that moment, he has never envied the two others' choice of taking Divination more. They've actually took Sirius and him to the Divination classroom once, so they'd experience _'the best nap of their lives'_. And to Lily's eye roll and stern talk down to ( _'if you chose to take this course, at least take it seriously'_ ), they'd replied that they were. They were actively working on filling their dream journals. And apparently, so was the teacher. 

Remus jerked from his somnolence. Which made Sirius jolt, eyes suddenly wide. This lecture was impossibly long... Since when did an hour could drag on for three? It was absolutely impossible they'd been seating there for merely forty minutes. 

Remus rubbed his palms over his eyes, and tried to blink the sleep away. He settled his head on his hand, obstinately focused on the board.

As he struggled to make head or tail of what has been written during his apparently not so brief slip into unconsciousness, he felt his free arm being pulled away. 

He looked towards Sirius, who was now scribbling on him. This had become an habit for years now; every time they were in class just the two of them and sat together, the werewolf would ultimately step out of there with his scars adorned with flowers and flourishes

Remus wondered why Sirius was even allowed a quill anymore. It was quite obvious to everyone that he'd barely written a full ten-inches of parchment of actual notes in his whole time in Hogwarts — not that his lack of academic effort showed in his exams...

When James and Sirius had started writing notes to each other incessantly — so about three weeks in — they've had to burn their bit of parchment off Slughorn's hand as to keep it private. Their week of detention had resolved them to switch to another mean of communication. While they were experimenting with numerous spells and charms in order to keep their conversation private, they've taken on writing on each other's arm. But even after successfully engineering The Note that would only show its content with a password or a spell, Sirius kept on writing on his mates' arms for purely entertaining purposes. 

Peter and he regularly engaged in some quite extensive Exquisite Corpse sort of drawings, stories and ideas; on his end, Remus has stopped battling his arm away some time ago, resigning to the fact he wouldn't win those fights — and in the long run, somewhat appreciated the tickling of the quill and decorated arm. Not that he'd ever admit to it, but it had constitute the very few times he hadn't looked at his arms with disgust and shame; and might have even made the corner of his mouth curl up a little. Maybe. 

And ever since third year, when Sirius and Remus had started studying Ancient Runes, the brunette had begun to write _'secret'_ messages in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet, and went through every book he could find in the Library to find some rude words in the ancient language. 

Remus had warned James more than once about some incriminating plans for a prank that were written on his arms, or some unfortunate words that most teachers wouldn't tolerate. So the wild-haired boy kept coming to him every time there was something he couldn't decipher written on his arm. Which Sirius found hilarious, and used to his advantages, writing lewd comments or insults to Remus' attention. 

At one point, he had told James to hide his forearm from Severus. When he was asked if it was something rude, under Sirius' pleading gaze, Remus had nodded in the affirmative. Which of course, had resulted in James hackling the Slytherin in the Great Hall, shouting _'Oi, Snivellus!'_ and pointing at his brandished arm. James considered it a job well done, when after a several seconds of mental translation, Severus turned beet red, as did some of his House mates that had read along; it wasn’t until later that evening, when a sixth year in their common room leant over and scrunched up his nose, asking him _'Ew, why would you want to lick that greasy git's arse?'_. 

From this day on, Sirius has had to resort to draw on his two other mates' arms. And Remus was stuck with almost permanent flowery forearms. 

  
. • . • . • .

  
After the seventeen painful, interminable remaining minutes of their class, the two teenagers decided to skip lunch and went straight to their dorm for a quick kip. 

"You know, if you're not going to listen to class, you might as well just skive off and get some actual sleep," Sirius pointed out in a wide yawn, slipping off his robes. "Pomfrey doesn't even want to let you out anyway, she'd force-feed you a whole sleep-potion-bathed turkey and shackle you to the bed for two days if she could."

"Erh, I know, it's just... I'd rather be seen up and about right after the full." Remus admitted, a little self-conscious. 

"Yeah, you're looking very _'up and about'_ right now..." Sirius teased. He climbed into his bed in his pants and shirt with a sigh of relief. "Uh, I wish she could write me up a note to skip Defence; Bolt is going to scoop my eyes out if she sees me nodding off."

Finally freed from his own reluctant tie, Remus slipped right behind Sirius and closed his eyes. The Animagus turned his head with a cocked eyebrow.

"Hum... Moony didn't have enough Padfoot time last night?"

"No," Remus groaned. Sirius chuckled. "Shove off, it's still here, and it wants to sleep with its dog."

"I'm not his dog," Sirius riposted.

"Yeah, right."

"I'm my own dog..."

"Shhhh," Remus patted his hair, "good night, Padfoot."

. * . * . * .

"Ouuuh, are we interrupting your post-coital cuddle?"

Still in a sleep haze, Remus turned around to look at the two other Marauders who'd just entered the dorm, arms filled with baked goods. 

"Yeah, and if you wouldn't mind, I was about to give him a very heartfelt blowjob," said Sirius, mimicking going under the covers over Remus. 

"Oh, would you bugger off!" Remus shoved him playfully, while Peter sat next to his legs. 

The blonde gasped and brought his hand to his chest in mock astonishment. "Oh my, you must be the first bloke to ever decline to be sucked off!"

"Well, I'm just relieved we decided to wait until the end of lunch to come up," said James, dropping their loot on the covers, "I don't think I can handle seeing your bare arses mid shag."

"Still, we guessed you were probably too exhausted to come to lunch so we thought we ought to bring you something to eat before heading to Defence Against the Dark Arts." Peter fished in his pockets and popped a toffee in his mouth. "Since your girlfriend couldn't be bothered tending to her lovely, exhausted wolf..."

Remus threw him a dirty look. "Yeah, I'm guessing she's still pretty narked after that suit of armour followed her around singing Simon and Garfunkel..." 

James' head snapped up. "Oh Merlin, we did that so she wouldn't get too mad!" he said in a sorry tone, "I thought it was her favourite song..."

Sirius cocked an eyebrow at the wild-haired boy, which made him fluster. 

"Ah, don't fuss about it," Remus waved a hand at him. "She'll get over it eventually. Ugh, I'm just too knackered to deal with it right now..."

"I told you, you two should've taken Divination, it's brilliant." Peter said in a bright tone.

Sirius grimaced and picked up a Cornish pasty from the bed. "Ugh, no thanks, I'm not touching anything that has anything to do with stars."

"And I have no interest in her telling me what monster inhabits me," Remus added, his mouth full. "By the way, how are you enjoying being told you're going to die in atrocious circumstances about every other week?"

James shrugged cheerfully. "It's okay!"

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As there's close to no known DADA teacher before 1991, I took the liberty to name her after one of those:  
> https://bloodyhellharry.tumblr.com/post/153316500795/the-position-was-already-cursed-before-harry-came
> 
> (one of my favourite posts, finally providing a partial answer to the question _'what happened to the twenty-something jinxed DADA teachers that taught before Harry came to school and began murdering them all?'_ )


	7. Concessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Negotiations four against one can't possibly be fair. 
> 
> Wednesday 20th October 1976

“No! No, no, no, no. No. Way.”

The loud clang of Lily's cutlery resonated in the Great Hall, startling the students that were just walking by.

James’ hopeful expression faltered at once. “What? Why not?”

“Because next week there's Halloween, and the one after that, it’s going to be Sirius birthday—“

“Oooow, you know when my birthday is!” Sirius bated his eyelashes at Lily. “Did you get me a birthday present already? If not, I know what I’d like,” he added, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. 

Lily scrunched her face up in a grimace. “Ew, not even to save my life.”

“How about to save Remus’ life?” Peter suggested, spraying some scrambled eggs in the process. 

Lily turned her head towards Remus and eyed him up and down. “Hmm, sorry, not worth the trauma.”

Remus gasped in mock offence, splaying his hand on his chest.

“Okay, which one of the Marauders would you sleep with in order to save Remus?” asked Sirius, joining his fingers in a business-like manner.

She looked at him, deadpanned. “… Remus.”

“Which one of us three—"

“Okay, let’s get back on track, people!” the werewolf interrupted, slamming his hand on the table. 

“Hey, we’re just trying to save your life, mate!”

“Well, I’m not dying,” he responded, stabbing a roasted potato in his plate.

“What if the secret to eradicate lycan—“

“AH-HEM!” Remus interrupted, glaring at Sirius.

“…the world’s furry little problem resided in one of us sleeping with Evans?”

“I believe we had important business to get to.” James interjected, louder than necessary. 

Sirius straightened up on his seat. “Right! Evans’ birthday present for me!”

“No, the party, you great twit!” Peter turned to Lily. “So why can’t we throw a party this weekend?”

“You’re not having a party every week!” she replied.

“But it’s the new moon!” James whined with pleading eyes. 

They all looked at the red-headed prefect expectantly. The Marauders had made a tradition of throwing parties at this time of the month, when the moon disappeared from the night sky. They found it to be a great way to thumb their noses at Remus’ condition, as well as celebrating his health peak. Or rather to take full advantage of it. Too tired the week after his transformation, and to edgy the week before, he usually avoided too much stimulation, crowds, and noises half of the month. So the new moon meant for the three others that he had no excuse to call it early the night of the new moon and demanded he filled his Marauder Duty to party until the whole common room had passed out. 

Lily sighed. “Then, no Halloween.”

“You can’t cancel Halloween!” Peter protested.

“Then no party in the common room for Sirius!” she continued, her patience wearing thin.

“It’s my seventeenth birthday, you can’t do that!” Sirius squealed.

“Then no party this weekend!” she pressed on.

“But—“

“What if you’re in charge of the invitations?” Remus interrupted.

Lily eyed him suspiciously. “So that Sirius can hit on all my friends?”

Her boyfriend cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t he already?”

“Hey! I have a girlfriend I’ll have you know!” Sirius interjected.

“Come on,” tried Remus, “this way you can control the havoc.”

“Then you admit there’s going to be a havoc?” she scowled.

“There won’t be if you invite the right people,” he countered with a wide grin.

Lily stayed silent for a minute, seemingly pondering the offer.

“Just, you know, no Slytherin if you want things to go smoothly,” James supplied. 

“No Ravenclaw.” Lily ordered.

“What, why?” Sirius frowned.

She sighed wearily. “Because I already have to deal with you snogging Emmeline in the corridors every time I'm on a round, I'd fancy a night off. If you want to lick her face off, do it on someone else's round for once.”

He grumbled in response, picking moodily at his food.

"What about other Ravenclaws?" tried Peter.

She froze, looking a the Marauders warily. "Uh-I'd rather have it going smoothly; avoid any drama and tension."

Remus frowned. "Why would there be drama? I mean, if we send Sirius to snog Emmeline's face off elsewhere—"

"Hey!" Sirius squealed.

Lily's eyes briefly shot up to James and fell back to her plate.

"What?" Remus asked. He looked up to James, whose cheeks just got a bit rosier.

"... Okay, no Ravenclaw." Peter accepted. 

"What, what happened?" Sirius turned to James. "Did something happened with a Rav—" His eyes widened. "Blimey, is it about Rose's friend? Did something happen with her? Did you make out? Did it go wrong?"

Peter and Lily carefully avoided everyone's gaze, but the boy's struggle to stifle his laughter was almost audible. 

Under the two other Marauders' insisting looks, Lily opened her mouth to venture some kind of explanation but was immediately interrupted by a visibly distressed James.

"Guys! You promised!"

Sirius spun around wildly between the two Gryffindors. "What! What did you promise? What happened? How come Lily knows and I don't?!"

"Well, Mary and I ran into them that time at Hogsmeade, when—"

"Guys!" James pleaded in a distressed, high-pitched voice, while Peter burst into a fit of laughter. "You _promised_!" 

Sirius was about to protest, but the blonde cut in. "Ok, alright, just Gryffindors then! Maybe some Hufflepuffs too?"

Lily shrugged.

“…so, is this a yes?” James ventured tentatively.

The redhead took a moment to respond, eyeing them alternatively.

“No pranks for a month,” she ordered.

“WHAT?” they shouted in unison.

“No pranks for a month and I’ll let you throw your party.”

“A week.” Remus countered.

“I— You don’t go a _week_ without a prank?" Lily almost shouted in bewilderment. "And, Remus, you’re a _Prefect_ ,” she gritted her teeth, “you’re supposed to be with me on this one!”

“Ten days!” Peter suggested.

“Hey, I didn’t agree to those terms!” Sirius interjected, outraged.

Lily dropped her head in her hands in exasperation, tugging at her hair. “Oh my—just ONE month, it’s not a lot I’m asking for, here!” 

“But it’s Sirius’ birthday on the third, how will we celebrate it if we can’t do a _little_ mischief?” James tried in a honey tone.

Lily closed her eyes in weariness. Not opening them, she exhaled.

“No pranks until Sirius’ birthday; I choose who gets to come; I choose the music.” She opened them. “And I get Remus to dance with me.”

James shot his hand across the table with a beaming smile. “Deal!”

She sighed and shook it.

Peter glanced at them with a hint of worry. “… Hum, so, what about the pranks that are already in place?”

  



	8. New Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Great party followed by great confusion.
> 
> . • . • . • .
> 
> Sunday 24th September 1976

If he could have it his way, Remus thought Lily should co-host all the parties they threw. 

Not that he would ever admit it, especially in front of his fellow Marauders. He was very much counting on staying friends with them. 

But when James and Sirius had dubbed themselves the rightful successors of the Prewett twins the year after the brothers had graduated, they took upon themselves the responsibility of taking any party to its possible extreme. 

And. It. Was. Exhausting. 

Fun. But _exhausting_.

Remus had pointed out once that if the time around the New Moon was when he felt at his best, then why would they insist on ruining it by making it more tiring than the full? Why couldn’t he enjoy one week of peaceful sleep? 

So when Lily carefully curated the guest-list, monitored the enchanted turntables, and controlled every charmed items that was brought in; after days of incessant battling and excruciating concessions with the Marauders on every aspect of the event, she managed to throw quite a wonderful party.

Even though it felt pleasantly calm next to the Marauders usual nights, it was far from quiet. Lily had brilliantly identified the eventual guests that would have catalysed the Mischief Energy and put an embargo on them; while she was quite lenient on the music, knowing her own personal taste weren’t much for a dance party, she knew what to avoid as not to awake the self-proclaim rebel side of Sirius; there was of course no Zonko’s product allowed, along with a promise that any home-made Zonko-worthy item flung out during the evening would be met with instant and harmful repercussions. Somehow, she didn’t feel like imposing any restriction on any mind-altering substance. 

And yet, here they were, reasonably hammered, a bit stoned even, but enjoying at full volume a wreck-free party at the Gryffindor Common Room. Which, to Peter’s opinion, ‘ _feels so wrong_ ’. 

Not that any of them would have been able to say they weren’t having an absolutely splendid time. 

It was late enough that it was tomorrow already, and a good half of the party departed for their (mostly respective) beds, yet the room still felt quite crowded for the time of the night. The word had spread out among the Hufflepuffs; their common room must have been quite empty that evening. Some Ravenclaw snuck in — which Lily couldn't care less about, as long as no drama-inducing personality came to disrupt the peace (which mainly meant no Sirius' exes, and, apparently, no James' terrible date? Remus had been quite bewildered to learn that Sirius didn't know what had this been about). And to his surprise even some Slytherins came bearing gifts. Lily had shushed him when Sirius had started to growl. "Don't let the worst of the Slytherins be their only companions in this school." And to her credit, everything went incredibly smooth. The students were talking, laughing, complaining, smoking, dancing, singing, drinking, playing, flirting, without even an itch. 

'So, _so_ wrong.'

And Remus loved it. Comfortably slouched in the battered armchair, slushing the weird green liquid that Mary had brought in his goblet, he looked up at her dancing with Sirius, swirling around and laughing with alcohol-induced glee. 

She looked so nice in her short blue dress, her Cleopatra eyes magnified with black liner; Remus has always wondered why she and Sirius hadn't worked out. She was so fun to be around, strong-willed, always out there, bluntly honest and unapologetic. Actually, maybe it wasn’t such a surprise as they were known to be explosive at times, they might be too much alike to survive as a couple — or, if forced together, as people. Still, what a shame. 

As much as he liked Emmeline (well, he didn’t necessary liked her, but he certainly didn’t dislike her) Remus had trouble to make sense of their relation, on any higher level than just physical. Which was probably why James, Peter and he have been so sceptical when the couple got together. For a while now, they couldn’t make head or tail of Sirius’ partner choices. Sure, they were fit, and generally not into that race cleansing fantasy that was roaring outside (and lately, quite louder inside) the Castle’s walls, but it seemed that Sirius’ standards have dropped to just that. Fit girls that weren’t too bigoted. 

Which somehow broke Remus’ heart. 

And he was pretty sure James was just as disheartened to see his friend, his brother really, seemingly giving up on trying to find someone that would actually be a good fit for him.

‘ _Let him be,_ ’ had retorted Peter, ‘ _he’s a bloody teenager, he’s just having fun, it’s not like he needs to find_ the one _right this second._ ’

Remus glanced at him and James who were seated on the carpet at the couch’s foot. They were certainly enjoying Lily’s choice of guests. They were engaged in a vivid and apparently hilarious conversation with Marlene, Leanor from seventh year, and Dorcas, a quite gleeful Hufflepuff that Lily and Mary adored. And by the looks of it, everyone did as well. 

Looking at them all, Remus wondered if he could just match them up all together. He had no idea how, out of the four of the Marauders, he seemed to be the one that had it the most together girl-wise. Peter was a delight to spend time with, and, when in a relationship, about the best boyfriend you could ask for. He was a romantic (which surprised about everyone in the group) who didn’t shy away from grand gestures if needed, and more importantly always gave a great deal of attention to his girlfriends. 

As for James, he was kind, handsome, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, brilliant, wealthy, easy, funny, and quite frankly, the Whole Package altogether. But Remus felt almost guilty about James’ lack of relationship experience. When they met, James was so confident, on the fringe of arrogance(or, more honsetly, right smack in the middle of it); he made everyone feel like the world was too small for what he could accomplish. Nothing failed him. To be fair, being the sole child of two of the most generous people Remus has ever met, and the Potters (after waiting so long before finally giving birth to James) showering him with love, affection, and attention, James grew up with everything going his way. Until Lily asked Remus out. 

From this day on, after the shock of having something slip away from him, and his best friend dating the girl he had a secret crush on for months, had finally subdued, James had been more quiet (all the while being substantially louder than your average Hogwarts resident) and vulnerable. And even though he had overcome his wounded sense of pride in a matter of months, it seemed like he haven’t recovered from his deception, not having shown much interest in girls since. 

But maybe this night could change it? Leanor would be a good fit for him. Tenacious, a great Quidditch enthusiast (and a skilled chaser), intelligent, with a stunning bone structure; even though she was about three inches taller than he was, they would get along so well.  
Or even Marlene. With her short blond unruly hair, pointy nose, rosy cheek, far away from Leanor’s strong features, she was one of the Marauders’ best friends. She had a remarkable creativity, great taste in music, a quick wit and always a nice word for people — well, for nice people. Remus adored her. They had spent a lot of time studying together, swapping books and records constantly; she was half-blood just like him, so they’d had to deal with similar situations, which has been so helpful for the both of them to have a sympathetic ear within reach. 

Although, he could see Marlene with Peter just as well. That would be quite an enchanting couple. And even though Remus didn’t know Dorcas as much as the other girls there, he felt like she and Sirius would be great together. Two wild personalities, prone to hex the wrong doers and loudly demonstrate their love and hate to anyone they felt deserved any of it. Remus had known her to be quite as talented as Sirius was, when it came to duel and charms, and just slightly more rigorous in academia. And with her wild brown curls, amazingly fit body, full lips and doe eyes, he didn’t see how Sirius wouldn’t be attracted to her. 

Or maybe it was the psychedelic smog in the common room that made Remus suddenly find everyone attractive. Either that or there were a lot of astonishingly beautiful people in Hogwarts and Remus had just realised it. To be fair, when you hung out with Sirius as much as Remus did, everyone seemed to pale in comparison. 

“Dancing time!” Lily chimed in. 

She grabbed his boyfriend’s wrist and pulled him on his feet, ignoring his whimper. 

“Whoo-hooo, let us see your moves, Moony!” cheered James.

Remus shot him the V sign behind Lily’s back, and let out a whine.

“Mnnh, I’m drunk, I’ll step on your toes, and, and I’ll bang you all over the furniture…”

“Ouuuh, kinky,” said Dorcas, earning herself a loud cackle from everyone on the carpet. 

“Oh, come on you promised!” Lily pouted with her doe eyes.

“Ugh, who dances on Elton John anyway?” asked an exasperated Sirius, annoyed with the sudden change of music.

Lily stuck out her tongue in his direction and took the goblet out of Remus’ hand before pulling him closer to her. 

_‘Pretty eyed, Pirate smile’_

Remus started to sway gently with her as Peter wolf whistled at them. 

“Alright, get off your bums,” Dorcas stood up and offered her hands to Marlene and James. “Let’s honour the words of our dear Sir John.”

Soon enough, everyone was on their feet, swaying exaggeratedly, and laughing out loud. Remus couldn’t help but smile fondly at his friends slow dancing, and humming the tune. As critical as he may have been, when the chorus came, Sirius sang at the top of his lungs, along with half of the common room.

_  
‘Hold me closer tiny dancer’_

  
Lily and Remus were pulled in the loud group, twirling each other around, waving their arms around, switching partners.

_  
'Count the headlights on the highway'_

  
Soon enough, Remus was swinging with Peter, singing with everyone; then dancing with James, waving their linked arms together; then was brought in Sirius’ embrace, who spun him around, eyes gleaming with cheer.

_  
‘Lay me down in sheets off linen’_

  
Dancing so close to him, he couldn’t help but admiring him. No wonder he was so popular with birds. Even the staff wasn’t impervious from his charm. Hell, even non-human creatures were uncannily good to him, for some reason. 

But Remus had come to wonder if his beauty did him any good. Most of the girls he has gone out with seemed to be attracted to his incredible bone structure, pink full lips, stunning grey eyes, and silky black hair; some might have even been attracted to the idea of him being a Black. But none apparently focused on how truly amazing he was. Which was a shame.

No one missed how unfairly beautiful, intelligent and powerful Sirius was — which Remus sometimes wondered if all of this wasn’t due to his unfortunate genealogy. But mainly, he was seen as an incredibly gifted arrogant troublemaker and absolute flirt. But in reality, Sirius wore his heart on his sleeve, which made for a highly temperamental drama queen, but also for a truly sincere, sensitive, and overall lovable person. Somehow, his and Remus’ temperament should have clashed, as Remus had trouble letting anything out, bottling things up until it overflowed, and basically exploded at people’s faces. And to be honest, they had more than their fair share of explosive fights. But their difference made for a quite compatible friendship that was so dear to Remus.

At this moment, Remus found himself overwhelmed by sheer fondness for everyone. As he kept on swaying on the tunes with Sirius, he looked back at the room, James twirling Lily around, Dorcas and Marlene dancing together, Leanor towering over Peter, Mary seated back, cackling at everyone on someone's knees — uh, was Remus really that stone or didn't he actually know that bloke's name? Well none of that matter to him. He just wanted to freeze his friends and himself in this perfect moment, and just forgetting everything and everyone else. Just swaying around endlessly on Elton John's words. Maybe he could even convince Sirius to accept being frozen into this tune. 

  
. • . • . • .

  
Remus woke up to a heavy sigh. 

He opened an eye, discerning Lily looking back at him in the middle of the Common Room, head cocked with a smirk plastered on her face.

"I knew you'd leave me for one of them sooner or later," she said with a mock hurt expression. 

He laughed and hugged tightly the lifeless body that laid on top of him.

"Don't listen to her, you're the only one for me." Remus said planting a kiss on top of James' head.

“Wnnsmth?”

Lily stifled a laughed and headed outside.

When the portrait shut behind her, Remus gave a quick look around him. Everyone seemed to be sleeping soundly. Mary was curled up on Sirius' lap, who was splayed across the armchair; he recognised the top of Marlene and Dorcas' heads against the couch he was on, apparently cuddled up under a plaid. Which meant that under James' sleeping form and the girls rested against his makeshift bed, Remus couldn't get out without waking everyone up. It was probably still early, and he had no idea how or when the night ended. He'd wait for a bit. 

He sighed and ran his fingers in James' dark unruly hair, which made the brunette let an almost imperceptible whimper out. But no matter how adorable he was, Remus would get bored quite quickly. He tried wiggling around discretely, to see if he could sense his wand in his pocket. No such luck. He tried fishing in James' pockets, and after some unfortunate pat on his mate's backside, he finally whipped out the wand and tried to silently ' _accio_ ' a nearby book. He managed to grab it without knocking James out in the process, and started reading through, resuming petting his friend's hair. 

It wasn't long until a seventh year came down from his dorm, freezing at the sight of Remus and heading out hurriedly. 

The werewolf did a double-take, realising what sight they must be right now, and internally chuckling. Sirius would be happy, they'll finally know if anyone has been betting on the Marauders dating each other if they hurried up to see if Galleons exchanged hands at breakfast.

  


It took everyone about an hour to wake up, regain a modicum of dignity and head to the Great Hall for some much needed food and liquids. 

Sat next to Sirius, James' head kept lolling to his friend's shoulder, only to be met with a playful shove and some colourful cuss words.

James whined. "Meh, I want to sit next to Moony, he's nicer and he plays with my hair."

Sirius gaped in offense towards Remus. "Hey, why are you playing with his hair and not mine?"

Peter chuckled. "Blimey, why aren't I invited to the braiding parties? Oh right, I'm not a ponce."

"Yeah, and maybe keep your voices down or people _are_ going to start asking questions." James pointed out.

Sirius barked out a laugh, and suddenly stopped at the sight of Lily and Marlene's expressions.

"What?"

The Marauders looked towards the girls who exchanged uncertain looks. 

"What, what is it?" Sirius repeated.

"Er, I'm pretty sure questions have already been asked," said Mary.

The Marauders' eyebrows shot up at once. Did the word of James sleeping on him spread out that fast?

"What, like us being..." Peter waved his finger between them all.

"I mean it's not like they actually wondering if we're together right?" Sirius rationalised. 

Mary looked very focused on her buttered toast. "Well, there have been rumours, hum... running around."

"Wowowo, wait, Moony has been with Evans forever," interjected Sirius with a disbelieving half-smile on his lips, "I've been with... my share of birds; Wormtail— well sure, he likes to go to Madam Puddifoot's for some reason—"

"Hey!" Peter scowled

"—but he always was with a girl there..." Sirius continued.

The girls seemed to try to avoid eye contact with them. 

"Er, yeah, hum— I'd guess that's why the rumours aren't about you..." Lily offered, playing nervously with her food.

James eyes almost popped out of his head. " _WHAT?!_ "

" _James?!_ " the three others shouted in unison. 

"Why? How com— WHY? What did I— I'm not!" James spluttered. "Why would they think that? You don't think that do you?"

James was met with a brief silence and avoiding gazes.

Ignoring Peter's loud whizzing, the girls reassured him. Well, _tried_ to. "Well, we knew the rumours about you and Remus were wrong, and we guessed those about you and Sirius were probably fake too..."

Peter was now laying on the bench, convulsing with laughter.

"It's not like we've been propagating the rumours, but you know... How could we know, really?" Mary asked.

"Because we never actually saw you with a girlfriend, or flirting with girls..." Lily continued.

Mary waved her hand around. "Yeah, and I mean, look at you! It is kind of surprising for you to have remained single for so long..."

Remus intervened. "Wait, he has been on dates! Just the other day, with... er, that Ravenclaw Chaser."

Lily cocked her eyebrow. "Hum. Yeah, not really a point on his favour in term of flirting with girls..."

At this point James had buried his head under his hands in a long, continuous groan, accepting the sympathetic pats from Sirius.

"Wait, so have you been correcting those who talked about him... being..." asked the latter.

Lily looked at them warily. "Well, we... hum. We weren't sure..."

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" James groaned loudly, straightening up and burying his face in his hands.

At this point, Peter was half under the table, and Remus and Sirius couldn't contain the giggles anymore.

"I'm not, I'm really not," James lamented, still not showing his face.

Sirius put an arm around his shoulders. "Well ladies, I'm counting on you to spread out the good word to your fellow lady friends; this hunk of a man is quite heterosexually single."

"Yeah," said Peter, re-emerging from under the table, "plus he's clean and rich."

"Yes, and he's a great kisser." Remus said sipping his tea.

"And an excellent shag." Sirius added with a wink.

Mary cocked her head and squinted her eyes. "Yeah, you know... I know you're joking, but I really don't know if you are."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from Elton John's _'Tiny Dancer'_
> 
> (it took everything from me not to write _'hold me close young Tony Danza'_ )


	9. Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick glimpse at Remus' first impression of Lily in their first year as he's nursing his light post New Moon party hangover. 
> 
> Sunday 24th September 1976

Weekends right between two full moons were a blessed time for Remus. Not only did he felt calm and rested enough to work efficiently, his dorm mates were routinely nursing hangovers from their bloody New Moon party ritual. 

Usually, he did most of his work during the week and a half, two weeks that surrounded this night, catching up with what he might have missed just after his transformation, and reading ahead, taking extra-notes for potential upcoming assignments in order to manage his loss of patience and concentration he had to deal with in the week that preceded the full moon. But those academic duties were seconds to his duties as friend and Marauder. Or at least, to his fellow Marauders it was. So this time right then when nothing was demanded of him was precious.

Or at least it would have been, if it weren’t for the dull throb in the back of his head that had gradually crept in during the day, courtesy of Mary’s weird green mead. 

Remus rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms. He lacked sleep, there was no doubt; the letters kept swirling and moving around, and he couldn’t focus on the already intricate symbols of his Ancient Runes notes.

Maybe he should take a nap, he thought, his eyes drifting away. He was useless right now, anyway. _Fuck it, studies are a next-week-Remus problem,_ he resolved himself, yawning widely. 

He laid back in the squeaky chair, inhaling deeply; the musty smell of the library was soothing. The scritch-scratch of the quills, the ruffling sound of parchment, the small thumps of heavy books being moved around were a melody to his ears. 

The shadows were elongating to reach the opposite wall, and the last rays of sunshine hit Lily’s hair in a warm halo, tinting all her surroundings in a heavy copper colour. Sat in front of him, she had her head propped up in her hand, eyes fixed on her Advanced Potion-Making textbook — either in deep concentration or in a state of half-consciousness —, chewing at the end of her biro. Under the weight of his gaze, she looked up, her brows knitting in a questioning frown. 

She must have had her share of the psychedelic emerald coloured liquor her friend had poured in everyone's gobelets all night; her eyes were slightly hooded by the possible exhaustion, and lacked their usual sharpness.

Not that they were normally hard, or cold, far from it. Her gaze has always brought warmth to anyone she locked eyes with; but when she looked straight at you, it felt like she bore into your soul through your retinas. And that intensity never wavered. Whether it was friendliness, comfort, anger, sadness or joy that animated her eyes, it always left a deep impression on anyone. 

Remus still remembered those bright green eyes on that small, overly sweet eleven year-old girl. They were staring at him with such intensity it actually kind of scared him. She was so friendly and talkative, it took only three days for him to actively start to avoid her. Enduring the crowd that buzzed with magic after being sheltered for so long was hard enough for Remus, but having to deal with this overwhelming extra-positive energy really incommoded him. Everyone did, really, maybe at the exception of Marlene, who had been a rare, comforting, quiet presence. Being around loud people was still too much for him. And while he could, kind of, legitimately be snappy or violent toward the less considerate people that roamed the corridors, he couldn’t find a way to deal with someone who was just _too nice_. And who kept asking questions. Who, really, was just trying to communicate her passion and awe about all that was around her. 

It hadn’t been much easier with his dorm mates at first either. They were raucous, and obnoxious, in demand of attention and adventures, which had gotten on Remus’ nerves much faster than Lily had. But that, somehow, had helped. Because you _could_ punch a bratty eleven year-old that was being offensive and a right arse when he was two inches taller than you. And this had helped dissipate some of the tension, and, oddly, led to some kind of communication between the four rowdy teenagers. On the other hand, punching an eleven year-old girl that was even smaller than you, for being a little bit too nice just felt wrong. 

So this is why he had finally, slowly started to befriend the soon-to-be-called-Marauders, all the while avoiding the too-sweet-Lily for most of their first few months in Hogwarts. Not that she had stopped being any kinder toward Remus, which was bewildering to him as she had begun to despise all of his new mates, with a special place in her heart held for the Noble and Most Insufferable Sirius Black who had had trouble shaking off all of his hard-learned wizard-supremacy lessons from back home. Well, Remus couldn’t blame her for her feelings towards them, really. While the prejudice against non-pure-blooded wizardry wasn't as strong in James' or Peter's upbringing (with both family largely considered as tainted, or even called 'blood-traitor', as Remus had learn since then that this was a thing), they still showed some cringing signs of a deep-rooted shared culture of 'magic-is-in-the-blood-and-it-makes-you better-and-more-powerful-than-others'. And aside from that, Sirius was literally taught to behave as if he was the most important person in the world; James on his end, being the sole child of a couple of wealthy and loving elders that had waited so long for his arrival in their lives, had been treated much like a prince growing up, and it showed; as for Peter, coming from a very large and noisy family, he had to jostle his way to get the slight glimpse of attention, and had thrived being the house-clown, diffusing tensions and putting an amusing end to budding rows. This made for quite a handful of mostly loud, immature, inconsiderate, better-than-thou, turbulent knobs that Lily didn't care for much. It surely didn’t help that they had taken on tormenting her childhood best friend. 

Except that’s precisely where they had started to bond with Remus. Snape seemed to have been truly put out by Remus’ existence since the day they had met. The sneer on his face had led Remus to wholeheartedly return that sentiment. Which had led to more than one snarky back-and-forth, a few bruises and a black eye. Which didn’t help Remus shake off the _’violent weirdo’_ label that had started to stick. But apparently, it had made the Marauders absolutely fall in love with him. Maybe it was the novelty of non-magical brutality that was quite rare in magical households; maybe it was Snape’s general demeanour they couldn’t stand; maybe it was house pride or something just as futile; probably a mix of all of the above. So they took it as a question of honour, as to get back at Snape for attacking their mate. And Remus has taken a liking to it. Or at least to them. 

Somehow, the palpable tension between Remus and Severus didn’t stop Lily from trying to befriend him. While she might have been a little disheartened by their on-going petty war, she might have been just as disappointed in Severus’ own attitude. In retrospective, growing up with her closest friends being Snape and her sister might have led her to be quite extensively forgiving. 

Her inexhaustible optimism coupled with landing in this brand new fascinating realm full of new people she now shared this world with seemed to feed her enthusiasm endlessly. 

Until she got called some very nasty words from a fifth year. It had been the second week of December; Remus could still remember seeing the world crumbling in those bright green eyes; that look of perplexity, hurt, and shame on her face. It looked like she took a bludger in the face and the Earth had just stopped. It was her first time experiencing blunt, purposeful, in-your-face prejudice, suddenly learning that she wasn’t welcome in her own new world. All the while knowing she wasn’t that much more welcome in the one she grew up in. It might have just hit her then, barely a teenager, that she was doomed to never find her place in either world. In a perpetual in between where none would ever fully accept her as a whole.

She had been quite subdued for the rest of the period, and Remus had felt guilty for not trying to comfort her right then. He should have known better, having had his share of insults for his muggle heritage. He knew what it had felt like, being at the end of these words (except that, in his case, after a few bruises, bloody noses and his first hexes, and just as many detentions, his muggle-related-insults has been quickly replaced by the very snarky _Lil’ Loony Loopy Lupin_ quip). Stirring his dorm mates’ attention towards what a tosser that bloody Rosier was and having him pranked didn’t help Lily feel any more welcomed there. It barely calmed his own anger. Not being able to talk about what it was like to his pure-blooded classmates should have hinted that what she needed right then was companionship, not vengeance on the one who uttered these words. Because, of course, she was smarter than him — than any of them, really. She knew her problem wasn’t with this particular individual. Shutting him up wouldn’t stop her persecution. 

But he had his own problems, he reasoned, glancing at her, her new odd, silent self across the Gryffindor table — not with at least a little bit of guilt at the back of his head bugging him for the next few weeks.

And then, she came back from winter break. All smiles and kind questions again, about how was everyone’s Yule. Remus thought she was back to normal. Until their first lesson of the new year — double Potions, with the Slytherins. She had waltzed into class with an assurance that could have defied the Blacks of this world, minus the arrogance. As she settled on the shared worked table, she set down, by her book and parchment, a handful of biros and a deep blue magnificient fountain pen. With her usual soft smile, she looked everyone that stared for too long dead in the eyes and her chin held high, students and teacher alike, silently daring them to make the slightest remark on her muggle paraphernalia. 

Remus was in absolute awe. And a bit envious. His own overused quill he had struggle with for so long, and didn’t dare throwing out despite its state, was scratching the paper off, and the ink flow was inconsistent at best. It took a single annoyed huff escaping his lips for her to notice and to hand him proudly one of her ballpoint pens with a beaming smile. Which he took quite gratefully, with a returned smile. 

This stunt — bringing pens into Hogwarts — to Remus’ complete confusion, had stunned about half of the castle. The word had inexplicably spread that a first year muggleborn had brought in some mysterious muggle artefact with her, and had led to curiosity, revulsion, and appalled more than a fair share of students. But somehow, none of it had turned into actual offence. She had effectively shut the nastier mouth, leaving, at worst, a trail of angry whispers behind her.

Not that the world was any kinder to Lily. Like every muggleborn — and to an extent, half-blood alike — the prejudice against her went far beyond the sneers and snarky remarks.

As studious as she was, most teachers didn’t expect much from her. They usually set the bar quite low on what to expect from those who grew up without magic. Some were close to amazed by the fact that they could produce a single spark with their wands, while they pushed the pure-bloods to go beyond their age-level and encouraged them to seek some tutoring from their peers. And no matter how well a muggleborn could do in front of those teachers, it was only met with either astonishment or assumptions that it was just dumb luck, but never with recognition of their talent and hard work. 

Something which possibly made Lily’s blood boil even more than the most hurtful words she could receive from any random student. 

It had metamorphosed her sweet, studious nature into this daring, furiously dedicated student, trying to balance her muggle pride and her desire to be the best at everything and prove the ignorants wrong. Because she had come to the realisation that she couldn’t just go by. She couldn’t just be good. Being the best was barely enough for people to give her credit. She couldn’t afford to be anything less than perfect to be taken seriously. 

Which she actually managed. Receiving an invitation to Professor Slughorn’s tea party was a testament to her dedication. Their potion professor was, sure, quite prejudiced, and problematic in more than one way; treating students like trophies was one of his most troublesome habits. He hadn't bother with becoming anyone noteworthy, he was himself quite an average potion master, and didn't seem to envy the spotlights that much, to be absolutely honest. But he loved surrounding himself with important, famous, talented people. And he had a flair for it. He could tell quite easily who had the potential to become a prominent figure in the outside world. His tea parties mostly consisted of eminent names, or to be exact, heirs of famous family lines or relatives of respected people who had achieved something significant in the wizarding world. There was a handful of students there, who had impressed him with their actual academic skills or unique Quidditch abilities, but they were usually nearing the end of their time at Hogwarts. 

So for Lily, a quite young muggleborn, to be considered by Slughorn to be on the same foothold as a Black, as in, a descendant of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, was quite a tremendous recognition of her talent. 

“OUCH!”

Remus was wrenched out from his thoughts from a biro bouncing off his nose with a soft _tink_ , apparently sent by a sniggering Lily.

“What the fuck, Lily!” he protested in a hushed voice, a playful grin spreading nonetheless on his face.

“Why were you staring at me like that, you big weirdo?” she asked in an amused voice.

“I was remembering a time when you were sweet and kind,” Remus replied throwing the pen back at her, making her shriek. 

She wrinkled her nose with a glint in her eyes. “Ew, stop, I don’t want you to think of me that way!” 

He snorted. “No?” He leant forward, arms crossed on the table with a smirk tugging at his lips. “Would you rather have me think of you as a mean, fearsome witch?”

“Yes!” she almost shouted, as her eyes lit up. “Absolutely! I wish I’d scare all of you, I’d have some peace in this castle... People would run away at the sound of my feet pacing through the corridors, and no one would dare to cross me or deal with my wrath…” She rested on her elbow, looking pensively at the ceiling, tapping her bottom lip with her pen. “Maybe I’ve approached this all wrong. Maybe I should start hexing people.” Remus quirked an eyebrow. “...More.” She corrected.

“I think you’ve hexed Sirius enough for one lifetime.” He chuckled.

“Clearly not.”

“Oh, absolutely," Peter intervened, making Remus jump, "you should do him one of your Leek Jinxes again!” 

“Bloody hell, Peter! You scared me,” he said, rubbing his face. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in—“ _Fuck,_ he thought looking back at Lily, _they weren’t supposed to be in Hogsmeade, think of something!_ “… the dorm.” 

Well, he was a shite liar when tired. “Did you really throw a Leek Jinx at Sirius?” he asked curiously.

“It was once!” she defended herself. “And a long time ago. And he was being a right berk.”

“I believe that.” Peter chimed in.

“I may have forgotten how to do it,” she said looking straight at Peter, “maybe I should practice on you.”

“Come on, Evans, we all know I’m your favourite,” he countered, batting his eyelashes.

A small smile menaced to curl up the corners of her mouth. “What do you want, Peter?” she asked. 

“Actually, I need to borrow your dearly beloved, as we may need his special set of skills.”

She frowned. “What skill, exactly?”

Peter’s face froze in a fixed smile and blank eyes for a beat too long. 

“… His... being very tall... skill,” he finally responded. 

Well, at least, Remus wasn’t the worst at making up on-the-spot-tired-brained-excuses-while-hangover. 

Lily looked at the blonde deadpanned, while he kept his impassive smile plastered on his face. Remus stood up hastily.

“Well, I can’t concentrate anyway,” he said while shoving his notes and books in his bag. “Might as well make sure the Gryffindor common room still exist.”

As he managed to gather all his mess, Peter turned to Lily. “By the way Lily, how is your cat?”

“My cat?” She frowned suspiciously. “Old and dying, why?”

“Hmm? No reason,” he answered, looking at his nails. “Cats don’t eat chocolate, right?” 

  
. • . • . • .

  
“You have got to be kidding me.”

Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose in slight exasperation, standing next to an impassive Sirius and a slightly uneasy Peter that had retreated half a step behind. Not that he felt threatened in any way by Remus’ annoyance; no, it was quite certainly due to the purring ball of fur that James was carefully petting. 

“Why is it on my bed?” Remus continued.

The bespectacled boy shrugged. “I don’t know, we let it alone for a while so it would calm down — it was hidden under it for a while. And when we came back it was napping on your bed.”

“S’not such a surprise, is it?” Sirius said. “Animals adore you, you’re like a magnet to them in Care of Magical Creature.”

“You’re better with them than me.” Remus stressed.

“Yeah, but they’re obsessed with you. And, this one doesn’t like me that much.” Sirius added with a scowl. 

“…Are you sure it’s not _actually_ McGonagall? It would make sense.”

James shook his head. “Nah, look, the spot around the eyes. They’re not the same.”

Remus sighed. “Ok, my next question would be : why the _fuck_ would you come across a cat that looks just like her and think _‘Hey, let’s get it back to the dorm so we can raise it on Remus’ bed’_?”

“Language, Moony!” James said in mock outrage. “And you’ll have to ask this yelping genius,” he added with nod toward Peter.

“I swear it was trying to attack me!” The blonde riposted. 

“Then _why_ would you want to smuggle a _cat_ in the dorm?” Remus asked.

Peter grinned. “Third years have their first Animagus lesson tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had been a while, but I wanted to insert a new chapter before what's coming up next. And I really should be doing anything else, but, well.  
> It's hardly proofread, sorry about that.


	10. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunday 31st October 1976
> 
> Also known as Halloween of 1976.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hum, life got in the way a little bit —sorry about the hiatus — and as I'm waiting for some life-changing news, I remembered I had some chapters written ahead. This one mostly finished. So here it is. Barely read over it, it ends a bit abruptly but I can't be arsed to write anything apparently, so here you go. 
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy it, and I'll try to write as much as I can while I don't have much on my plate.

Halloween was a night no Prefect could ever begin to try to subdue.

Remus could only imagine all the common rooms experimenting the same kind of buzzing around that the Gryffindor’s one did right now, where the most dedicated students have waved their rights to slack off on their well-earned three-days-week-end in order to put this party together before the gargantuan buffet started. He knew for a fact that Hufflepuff had had a quite extraordinary one the year before, which had attracted students from other houses. It seemed to have struck a nerve among some Gryffindors, who prided themselves as being the Ultimate Party Throwers — yes, James and Sirius, who else? As for Slytherins and Ravenclaws, they’ve been known to throw impressively gloomy Halloween parties, or tending to some quite elaborate pranks for the occasion — there again, striking a nerve.

So this was the time even the more scrupulous Prefects have learnt to look away, to bury their noses in their books, or suddenly got very interested in the dirt under their nails — yeah, they really had to find a file or something, this was quite unsettling, no wonder they didn’t hear the explosion not three feet away from them.

But this really wasn’t Lily’s style.

No, this year, her style was more about making scary glowing pumpkins float about in the common room and un-oiling every door and spring so they’d creak ominously, while making some very convincing spiders crawl all over the spread whenever someone got close to the buffet. And Remus had pretended not to hear her ask Marlene if she could get some of the weird green mead from Mary’s stash in their dorm. And he definitely didn’t grin at that. 

To be fair, he had his own mess to deal with. His horrendously frustrating mess, dangling obnoxiously under his nose, taunting him and putting a cruel spotlight on his inexistent skills. He undid his work with a frustrating groan, ignoring Sirius’ wince.

As he set back to his task, Peter and James came in victoriously with bags full of freshly baked pastries from the kitchen, to add to the buffet of the spookiest sweets they could have found at Honeydukes (alongside some —mostly— edible Zonko’s products). As Marlene came to help with their load, the boys stopped in their tracks at the sight of their fellow Marauders.

“Wotcher, Remus! Shouldn’t you do that in the dorm? You know, not in front of some very impressionable children?”

Remus threw him a dark glance, then focused back on Sirius’ messy hairdo, battling with numerous black strands of hair he had no idea how to manipulate.

“Yeah, thanks Wormy for implanting that stupid idea in Padfoot’s head.” Tugging on one strand, another fell out, seemingly antagonizing him deliberately. “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO BRAID HAIR!” he screamed on the top of his lungs, scaring a few second year away in the process. He was fuming. This was, by far, the most frustrating task he has ever set to.

James and Peter snickered. “Hey Moony, why are you braiding Sirius’ hair?” James asked matter-of-factly, with a laugh still on his lips.

“It was either that or he wouldn’t let mine alone.” Remus glared at the back of Sirius’ head.

The Animagus turned to the others with a smile. “I’m going as Bellatrix Black tonight! That ought to frighten peop—OUCH!”

Sirius rubbed at his sore temple as Remus let out yet another frustrated sigh.

“I can’t do this, this is dark magic or something. Yeah, that’s it, that’s how she got her plait done all along!”

“Oh, come on Remus,”Mary intervened,“you can catch a baby Demiguise in class but you can’t braid a simple plait? One eyed seven year-olds with missing fingers could do this…” She turned to her left and snapped her fingers at a first year that had just come down from the dorms. “Hey you! Joanne, is it?” The fair-haired girl nodded warily. “Come here and show this grown arse man how to plait hair.”

The werewolf glowered at his _‘friend’_ , while the eleven year-old stood motionless and wide-eyed.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite,” James shouted, half over the couch where he and Peter were experiencing a fit of silent giggles.

“Eh, well…” Peter added, waving his hand as to express doubt. They weren’t so smug with a ten pound pumpkin zooming toward them at full throwing speed.

Encouraged by Mary, the aforementioned Joanne sat cautiously on the rug next to Remus while he entangled Sirius’ charmed hair, which was down to the middle of his back for the occasion. He widely ignored his mates’ barks of laughter as she proceeded to teach him how to plait Sirius’ hair with notable patience, while Lily tsked him for the rude gesture he addressed to the mirthful Marauders.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that difficult after all.

After five minutes, he stood back to admire his not-too-wonky work. As he thanked the first year, Sirius sprang to his feet to admire his hairdo in a mirror. Remus barely had the time to stretch his limbs after the forty-five minutes long uncomfortable sit on the carpet that Sirius squeezed him in a tight hug. “Thanks Moony!”

“You know he’ll ask you to braid his hair every other day now, don’t you?” James pointed out.

. • . • . • .

Five hours later, the party was at full blast; half of the common room tipsy, the other half between rightly pissed and black out drunk.

Remus was just coming back down from the dorms with Lily after a light, almost coy snogging session on his bed. It was difficult to stay in the mood as Lily was dressed as a Pigmy puff, her round, fluffy costume shedding strands of pink feathery-like material and tickling their face. He had a hard time suppressing some giggles when he opened his eyes to see all this pink fluff laying next to him; it wasn’t much of a mood-setter (as for her, she didn't mind snogging a mock David Bowie, as he refused, once again, to dress as a sheep).

They’d crave a smoke, but Remus couldn’t find any in Sirius’ drawer, and he wasn't comfortable going through Peter's stuff (Sirius was certainly fair game after all the snooping around other's affairs). He figured he could just ask them if they had some to spare or if they knew where to get some.

Back to the common room, he couldn't see any of his mates. Eventually, he'd lost Lily to a lively conversation with Mary and Leanor on his way. He spotted James, who was wearing a face-splitting smile, fitting snuggly between Dorcas and Marlene on the couch, the latter's leg thrown across his knees, the three of them seemingly having a lot of fun. Remus spared a moment to think that maybe the Marauders were bringing James' game down, as when he was on his own (and, to be fair, at least a bit tipsy) he was found to be charming all the birds around. Spotting him back, James beamed at Remus with a mad grin, almost sloshing his drink over the carpet.

"Moony! You're here! Where were you?"

"Looking for Wormy, I need a smoke. Do you know where he is?"

"I think he's with Sirius."

"And Sirius is...?"

“Either getting more food, alcohol, weed, or having his party privileges revoked.”

“Ugh, you got to be kidding me… Alright, I’ll get them out of trouble. Please don’t get in any.”

Remus ran back to the dorms, and fished in his bag for the Map. It only took him a minute to find Sirius, alone and still, in the Entrance Hall, seemingly lurking by the corner of the corridor.  
Obviously he went for having his party privilege revoked.

Remus bolted downstairs, hoping to get there before his mate got himself in trouble. He had spared the time to switch his bright orange jacket for his school one, his Prefect badge probably necessary in order to wander in the Castle at this hour without a hitch.

As he descended the Great Entrance's stairs, he looked around, hoping Sirius had stayed put, suddenly cursing silently at himself for not having taken the Map with him. Because whatever they had come down to do, Sirius and Peter certainly took the cloak with them. Remus walked tentatively to the corridor he saw Sirius lurking around, trying to sniff him out.

It was quite arduous to try to decipher anything through the lingering scent of the Halloween feast, and over the smell Lily has left all over his shirt. The air was charged with aromas of roasted apples, caramelized pumpkin, treacle tart, and carrot cake, he'd have to walk right into him just to hope to smell—

Wait, treacle tart? They didn’t serve treacle tart during the feast.

He sniffed around, turning his head around, and taking a few tentative steps towards the sugary smell, hoping it was emanating from Sirius’ pockets, and not just leading to the kitchens.

He barely got to turn around to where the source of the smell was coming from, when Sirius’ head popped out of thin air, as he wrenched the cloak around them both. Remus’ mouth let out a high-pitched shriek, and was immediately met with Sirius’ hand. In the commotion, Remus toppled backward and hit his head on the wall as Sirius tumbled flat against him.

The werewolf winced and tried to straighten up, but his friend’s body was pining him strongly to the stone. Remus frowned at Sirius, his mate’s hand still covering his mouth. The Animagus met his eyes, and slowly lifted his index to his lips, signaling for them to stay as quiet as they could. Even though Remus’ heart was trying to break out of his ribcage. This was getting ridiculously intimate, Remus thought, as seconds passed. He tried to extricate himself from his mate’s hold, but the boy wouldn’t budge, eyes locked towards the other end of the corridor.

Until they heard the caretaker’s office door creak at their left — well, Remus’ left.

He braced himself for Filch, praying that Mrs Norris was roaming in some far away part of the castle so she couldn't help him spot them. But instead, poking out of the door was Mulciber’s head.

Oh, so that’s why Sirius was waiting out here.

While the Slytherin took a tentative step outside, looking left and right suspiciously, Remus felt Sirius almost vibrating with rage, a faint copper smell emanating from him. He knew that telltale sign. Instinctively, the fake Bowie moved to grab his mate's arm, but Sirius violently swatted him away and raised his wand. Before Remus could stop it, Mulciber disappeared in a metallic blur until he was clad head to toe in an armour. The Slytherin let out a muffled scream and tried to struggle his way out of the armour, but Sirius swirled his wand a couple more time to silence him and made him bounce against opposite walls before immobilising it, like an innocuous, yet misplaced Hogwart's soldier.

Before Remus had barely registered what had just happened, the echo of hurried steps came in their direction and he was yanked away and pushed in the nearby room.

“ _What the f—_ “

He was immediately silenced again by Sirius’ hand.

Furious, he pushed him off and was about to scold his friend, but the sound of distant voices resonated from the other side of the door. Their eyes met in slight worry, and they held their breath. Remus listened attentively, still frowning at Sirius. He could barely make a word out of it, as the individuals were talking in just loud whispers. As the argument seem to take a frustrated turn, one voice raised; unfortunately, unmistakable.

“Would you just _let it go_?”

Remus locked eyes with Sirius, who blanched a little at the sound of his little brother's voice. They didn’t dare to move as they listened to the conversation getting more distinct as Regulus and… was this Severus? Well, they were clearly getting closer, but the hushed tones made it hard to get more than bits of sentences, especially over the sound of the blood rushing through Sirius veins, that seem to get louder than even the voices.

“…much but it should work,” said Snape’s voice, "I’ll get on it next w— Wait, it’s open!”

The footsteps stopped.

“Mulciber?” asked Regulus’ voice. They resumed their pace.

“He's not here," said Snape, "I think he left, do you think he found it?”

“Wait, I need something there.”

As they presumably went in the caretaker’s office, the voices muffled, and Remus and Sirius pressed their ears against the door. Remus could only hear the more emphasized word out of Snape unfriendly tone. Something in the line of _dangerous… blind… daft…_

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, Severus, stop it! Just let it go!”

Regulus’ irritated tone was followed by sounds of footsteps, seemingly exiting the office.

“Believe me, you’re better off. This is getting intense out there; you really don’t want to appear ambiguous on who you’re siding with. Especially you, you know your situation will be precarious enough as it is!”

“Are you doubting me?” Snape responded, seemingly offended.

“No, I’m advising you to be prudent. Believe me, I’ve seen them, if they don’t trust… won’t hesitate… and you…”

Remus couldn’t make out the last sentences as the two Slytherins hurried away. He chanced a glance towards Sirius whose features were distorted with anger and bitterness.

“Reg still hangs out with that creep?” Sirius almost shouted.

“Sirius, what was that?!” Remus interjected.

“Well apparently, my darling brother is getting fr—“

“Not, him; Mulciber!” 

Sirius looked at him with a deep frown. “Oh come on, he deserved it!”

“He wasn’t doing anything! You attacked him by surprise, you can’t assault people like that!”

“Oh, after what he did to Mary? Really, you're trying to have me worried about him? And, please, he was alone in Filch’s room for like fifteen minutes, of course he was up to something, believe me, whatever it was, he deserved it!”

“Sirius! Stop!” Remus all but shouted.

They glared at each other. Remus was livid.

“This is not okay and you know it. Either you don’t care or you don’t think about the consequences and I don’t know which is worse.”

Sirius was fuming. For a second, Remus thought Sirius would punch or hex him on the spot. And at that moment, the werewolf was almost daring him to. He was so infuriated by Sirius’ behaviour he would happily retaliate.

It felt like last year all over again.

The moment that thought passed his mind, he saw it in Sirius’ eyes that it probably hit him too. Rash decisions, dangerous jokes, untamed anger, not a thought spared for consequences. In the darkness of the closet, Remus could still see Sirius’ eyes getting shinier in his growing distress. That Bloody Prank wouldn’t leave them.

Sirius ducked his head and pressed the heel of his palm between his eyebrows. His shoulders tensed and shuddered lightly. In a wet voice, he let out a small “I’m sorry.”

The brunette sunk down against the wall and held his temples in his hands.

“I’m so sorry, I just… I lost it.”

Remus settled next to him, shoulder against shoulder. They sat in silence, occasionally broken by a quiet sniffle.

“I get that they infuriate you,” said Remus in a firm tone, “believe me, I do! I get that you can’t stand just doing nothing when faced with them. I know what they represent to you, and I’m not diminishing how terrible what they say or do is… But you really need to get a grip. I’m not talking about just here and now. If what you face today with your impulsive actions is detention or expulsion, just imagine what it you’ll have to face out there…”

As they were nearing their last year at Hogwarts, it felt like the attacks in the school were getting more vicious. The war roaring outside those walls seemed to contaminate the crowds in there. There was a very false sense of security. Students, and probably teachers alike, seemed to think that, being a school, this kind of stuff couldn’t seriously happen here. It was stupid pranks, and misbehaved students. Sirius, more than anyone, knew different. He had heard some things, before fleeing his home. He has been asked some things… Remus wasn’t kidding himself either, but felt rather helpless in this setting. 

Sirius lifted his head and rested it against the stone, eyes closed. Remus could see his eyelashes clamped together. As terribly mad the boy got him, he felt his heart break for his friend. Gently, he carded his fingers in Sirius’ hair and rubbed his thumb against the boy’s temple.

“We have got to go free him.”

Sirius sneered.

“Believe me, I hate it at least as much as you do, but we still can’t let him like that.” He stood up and lent Sirius a hand. “In the end, it’s our morals that will determine which side we're on.”

Sirius took his hand and propped himself up, but didn’t let go. Instead, he pulled gingerly on it until they were inches apart, then held Remus in a tight embrace.

“I’m so, so sorry,” he said after a soft squeeze. 

They disentangled. As they smiled at each other, the tension evaporated and they shared a brief nervous laugh.

Remus moved to open the door, but… The doorknob wouldn’t budge. After a few attempts, they realised it was impervious to any unlocking hex they could throw at it — or any physical force they could put upon it.

“Whatever even is that room?” Sirius asked, irritated.

“I don’t know, I thought it was supposed to be the Staff Room here.” Remus looked around at the dingy closet and grimaced. “I really hope the teachers have a more decent break room than that…”

Sirius tugged angrily at the doorknob again.

“Just stop, it won’t budge.”

The Animagus banged his fist on the door in exasperation. “So what, we’ll just stay here all night? You want to just sit and do nothing?”

“No, no, I want you to bang your head until either it or the door breach open,” Remus spat.

Sirius sat on the floor with a bitter look on its face.

“Look, it’s not my fault we’re stuck here, I came to get you to stop making a stupid mistake again!”

“I know!” the brunette replied through gritted teeth.

Remus exhaled wearily, and looked around. The closet was vast enough, but far from cosy for a sleepover. Still, he was determined not endure a sullen Sirius for several hours. He dug around the shelves and pulled out a large, shabby blanket and two empty jars and sat next to his friend.

“Scoot up” he ordered. He slid the blankets under both of them and pulled it around them. It barely enveloped the both of them. He then proceeded to conjure small blue fires in the jars, as Sirius muttered a spell to enlarge the cover to almost twice its original size.

“Stop it, you mutt, you’ll smother us,” Remus joked.

As they settled in the blue, dimmed light, and slightly warmed up atmosphere, Sirius laid his head against Remus’ shoulder.

“Are you mad at me?”

Remus rested his cheek on his friend’s head, and sighed softly. “No, I’m not.” He chuckled. “Probably not as much as I should.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes, their breathing evening out.

“Now what?”

  


. • . • . • .

  
Remus woke up to the sound of distant footstep.

His back hurt immensely and his bum was completely numb. Sirius was still sleeping pressed up against his chest, mouth open on his shirt. Remus moved to stretch, earning himself a groan-like sound from his mate.

The footsteps seemed to get closer. What time was it? Was it morning already?

He realised that the person was walking past them. Without a hesitation, he banged loudly on the door to attract their attention, which made Sirius jolt. Finally! In just seconds, the door flew open, revealing a puzzled Dorcas.

Her face split into a teasing smile. “Gooood morning, fellows!”

“Oh, thank God, thank God, you were here!” Remus sprung to his feet and squeezed her tightly.

“What, not enough cuddles tonight?” she asked with malice, looking at the bleary-eyed brunette behind him.

“Oh, _har, har_ ,” Remus replied deadpanned. He looked past her and frowned. “Wait, this isn’t the Staffroom corridor.”

Sirius, still struggling to get to his feet, squinted his eyes against the morning light. “What? Where are we?” he asked hoarse-voiced.

“Hum, no, you’re in the basement.” Dorcas supplied. “Were you here all night?”

Remus went to extinguish the flames in the jars. “Yeah, we got stuck in the closet, we couldn’t get out. I was so sure we were on the ground floor…”

She took a brief look around while they tidied up and rearranged themselves. “Hey, I think I got stuck here too! Last, year, I was trying to get to the loo and before I realised I got it wrong, the door shut behind me and I couldn’t get out. The second time, I thought it was a classroom. I thought it was a different closet but this thing seems to move around. Thankfully I never got stuck for the night, though...”

“Merlin, this castle is a mess…” Sirius stretched and yawned. “So, breakfast?”

“I’ll see you guys later, I’ve got to go to my dorm.”

Remus glanced at Dorcas. He hasn’t realised until now the wild curls that flew in all direction off her messy bun, the smudged mascara, and the long shiny dress she apparently hasn’t got out of yet.

Sirius’ eyes widen with glee. “You’re just getting back?”

“Oh, so we’ve missed on quite a party then,” Remus grinned.

"Well, nothing close to what you mad animals got to tonight," she answered cheekily, walking past them, "but yeah, decent party! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to slip in something less provoking. You know, less muggle-y clothes..."

As she disappeared at the corner, Sirius looked down his Bellatrix-like robes. “Yeah, maybe we should wash up before getting to the Great Hall.”

“No. Breakfast first.” Remus seized his wrist and tugged him towards the other end of the corridor. As he saw his bright orange trousers in his peripheral vision, he stopped and turned to Sirius.

"Wait, do I still have make-up on?"

Sirius chuckled and swiped his cheek with his thumb. "Yeah, a little, but it's smudged. Me?"

"Same. Wait." Remus took his wand out and Scourgified their faces, then turned his trousers black. Sirius' robes, while more on the feminine side, would certainly go mostly unnoticed. "Do you want your hair back at their length or...?"

"Oh, bugger, I forgot. Yeah, could you...?"

Now presentable, they walked quickly to the mostly empty Great Hall. The day after Halloween truly was the Day of the Dead.

At the Gryffindor's table, they spotted James, Lily, and the top of Mary’s head. They sat down across from them with a cheery ‘Hiya’, which was met with a general groan.

“So, marvellous party, wasn’t it?” said Sirius.

Mary’s forehead wouldn’t unglue itself from the table; Lily was a bit green, but still quite able to throw dark glances around; James, while quite visibly tipsy from the night before, didn’t look too sick, but seemed quite uneasy nonetheless.

“Well, you wouldn’t know, you disappeared halfway through the night.” Lily sipped her tea, head propped up on her hand. “Please tell me: what’s the point of insisting on throwing parties if you don’t even attend them?”

“It’s mainly so you can enjoy it, my dear Evans.” Sirius winked at her and helped himself with some sausage.

She turned to Remus, ignoring the brunette. “So where were you all night?”

“Oh, we wanted to bring up some food, but we tried to take a shortcut and got locked in a cupboard.” It was barely a lie, really.

“Didn’t Peter come back from Hufflepuff though?” Sirius asked.

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know, haven’t seen him all night. Man, it’s was strange having a party without anyone dancing on the furniture or flying around and crashing into the walls.” She grimaced. “I never thought I’d ever say this in my life. You boys have ruined me.”

Remus turned to James. “Wait, wasn’t Peter in the dorm when you woke up?”

James’ eyes switched nervously to them and back to his plate, shaking his head no.

Sirius wolf whistled. “Ooooh, someone got some tonight!”

Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius’ finesse, while James’ ears proceeded to turn two shades redder.

As if on cue, Peter entered the Great Hall in grand strides, beaming at his mates.

“Why, hello there, my dear Wormtail!” Sirius said with a flourish. “How are you doing on this fine morning?”

“Oh, I’m doing swell, dear Padfoot!” Peter responded in exaggerated grandeurs. He nodded towards Lily and Mary. “Ladies…”

He stopped behind James’ and clasped his hands on his mate’s shoulders with overemphasized camaraderie.

“And how our local Casanova is doing on this lovely day?” he chimed, his head at James’ level, with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Peter sat next to his friend, whose eyes widen stubbornly focused on his untouched plate.

Sirius overlooked his remark — for some reason, Peter liked to make big deal of even the lightest flirtation towards James, as the bespectacled boy seemed to get unnecessary uneasy when flirted with. To be fair, even Remus have been quite amused to see tipsy James being all charming the night before with a few wandering Ravenclaws, and with Leanor, then all cuddly with Marlene and Dorcas.

“So, who where you with last night?” Sirius asked Peter with a wink.

“Uh? Oh, no one. I spent most of the night at the Hufflepuffs’ party, then I went back and the Gryffindor party had already ended, so I slept on the couch.”

Remus frowned, gulping his fried egg. “Why didn’t you sleep in the dorm?”

A large knowing smirk blossomed on the blonde’s face. “Well, the dorm was a little bit crowded.”

As the insinuation slowly dawned on the audience, they turned their head towards James, wide-eyed and mouths gaping, the latter's face proceeding to turn into a very nice shade of crimson.

Mary, who seemed to remerge from the dead, asked in bewilderment. “Wait, were you with Marlene?”

“ _What?_ ” Sirius’ head spun wildly.

“And Dorcas…” Peter provided, visibly amused.

Remus’ jaw dropped. Well, everyone’s did. And James was now purple, staring intensely at another dimension through the table.

“Holy Mother Goblin on a Hippogriff,” Sirius said slowly, before half-shrieking. “James! You’ve slept with—“

“Shhhhh…” James begged, eyes darting around them. “I didn’t,” he urgently whispered. “We just…we—er, we didn’t do…hum...much—“

“You weren’t wearing much…” Peter supplied, taking a sip of tea. James buried his head in his hand and groaned in embarrassment.

The girls’ eyebrows shot up, their eyes wide as saucers. Sirius turned to them and apologised. “Sorry ladies, we need to have a private session with our boy.” He casted a quick _‘Muffliato’_ around them, ignoring the gobsmacked expression on Lily.

“So,” he asked urgently, “what happened?”

“Ugh, guys, can we not do that now? Here?” James pleaded.

“Come on, how did _that_ happen?”

“Pads, Great Hall!” James angry-whispered, “Not the place!”

James downed his pumpkin juice, trying to avoid his mates’ intense gazes. As they stayed motionless, unable to tear their look away from their friend, he finally cracked.

“Fine,” he said. “It— it’s not like… I don’t really know how it happened. Hum, we wanted to change the music, so I said there were a lot of records in the dorm, so we went there, and then we just started talking there. They were having a fervent debate on I don’t know which band or whatever, so I sat on my bed, listening to them; and as it went on, Marlene came and sat next to me. I completely lost the thread of the conversation at this point, I was just looking at them talking… And… I don’t know, at one point, Marlene looked back at me, and… she was looking at my lips, and, er, and she leant a little so, erm… I— I kissed her.”

He gulped and reached for his juice, drinking from the already empty cup. He continued his stammer, looking obstinately at his cup.

“Hum, then, er— after a while, she broke the kiss, and I haven’t realised Dorcas was sitting on the other side, and—hum. She kissed me. And then…” He cleared his throat, and continue in barely a whisper. “And then they started kissing each other…”

He fell silent. As did everyone. Peter looked at him with utter amazement.

“So did you…” Sirius started, waving his hand aimlessly.

“No! We didn’t—it wasn’t—Ugh, we didn’t do that! Or anything like that!”

“So how come you were naked?” Remus interjected.

James glared at Peter. “We weren’t naked, they kept their knickers on at all time, and so did I.”

“You wore knickers?” Sirius asked bewildered, before being smacked on the head by Remus.

“So you didn’t do anything?” asked the latter.

“Well—hum.” James spoke so softly they all bent forward. “There was some… kissing,” he said, every word quieter than the last, his face's colour progressively getting close to aubergine, “and er, touching. And… Hum… Rubbing?”

“So,” Sirius asked. “Was it good?”

James glared at him. “No, I spent the night with two beautiful women who were caressing and kissing each other on top of me and I hated it,” he said deadpanned. “It was so uninteresting and tedious, I thought about picking up a book at some point. What do you think, you git?”

"Blimey, you'd think having had a three-way with two fit birds would brighten up a bloke," Peter joked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've written a Marlene POV piece around this night. Maybe I should go look for it, as a side story, if you're interested.


	11. You Crazy Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birthdays and Brothers.  
> And a whole lot of music.
> 
> . • . • . • .
> 
> Wednesday 3rd November 1976  
> 

There have been intense negotiations between the Marauders to decide on which day Sirius’ birthday party would be thrown. As his official birthday occurred just three days after Halloween, and in the middle of the week, they sensed it couldn’t be as grandiloquent as they would have wanted it to be, it being Sirius’ seventeenth.

James was firmly set on having a big send off into adulthood for his illegitimate brother, especially after the dreadful year he’s been through.

Between that God-Awful Prank that has almost effectively ruined his relationship with Remus, and severely damaged his relation with the Marauders for months, which altogether threw him into a whirlwind of guilt and despair that went so far, Remus still felt sick remembering it; the war roaring outside, too loud by now for anyone in the school to ignore, even in the confine of its thick walls; his family getting cosier everyday with some truly distasteful people; his running away from home and his disinheritance; and to cap it off, all of this family turmoil resulting in his relationship with Regulus to be strained seemingly beyond repair now…

He definitely deserved to have an incredible night dedicated to remind him of all the good in his life.

He was now free. Free from his family's expectations, from the power they held over him. As of now, the only thing that tethered him to them was his name.  
And in exchange, he had gained a new, loving family, willing to take good care of him. As uneasy as he felt to be dependant of Euphemia and Fleamont Potter’s generosity and kindness, James’ parents couldn’t be happier to have a second child to care for and love. Plus his relationship with James got even stronger in the process; he also got closer to Peter who was the first to get back to him after the weeks of silence and cold-shoulder that was inflicted on Sirius — ever-being the mender of fences, Peter had proved once again he could be quite a strong shoulder to lean on; and even though the events of the year before have left a lingering scar between Remus and him, it has also uncovered the deep, unshakable, undeniable love they had for each other; through thick and thin, every hardship seemed to link them further rather than pulling them apart.

In addition to this, he was still this highly skilled, unfairly gorgeous, tremendously charming wizard, with a just as talented and charming girlfriend at his side, a promising future ahead of him, the love and support of a few blood-related family members who had been through some similar experiences and had reached out to him in his worst hours, and friendships getting stronger and deeper every year.

Yes, they had a lot to celebrate.

But. His birthday was on Wednesday, and people would still be recovering from Halloween; and the full moon was during the night between Saturday and Sunday. And there was no way Remus would miss Sirius’ seventeenth birthday, neither that, nor would the Marauders skip the full moon at his side.

So, they’d agree on privately — no, let's not kid anyone — quite annoyingly publicly celebrate him on his actual birthday all day long, and throw him a full-blown party on Friday night. That would leave them some time to actually _plan_ the party. They even involved Mary and Marlene in the process, and got Emmeline to distract the birthday boy whenever they needed Sirius out of the way.

Remus had quite authoritatively put himself on music duty, taking advantage of his free periods to compulsory listening to all of his and Sirius’ records at high speed while trying to manage a work of spells to get them to play in a precise order and protect his playlist from the ill-advised student who’d venture to play a different tune.

He’d be damned if anyone tried to hijack Sirius’ birthday and put in some ABBA.

As he went through the albums, it was hard to determine when one’s collection ended and the other’s began. Remus has been the one to introduce Sirius to most of his favourite muggle bands, and the pure-blooded wizard was all-too-happy to hoarder as many muggle artefacts as he could in the Grand Manor of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. And while Remus was clearly a music enthusiast, his very limited wealth was directed exclusively towards his all-time favourite albums.

But their taste in music was so similar — he'd just slip a word about a new record release and it wouldn't be long before Sirius victoriously brandished it and invited him to the first listening session — Sirius' collection was just an extension of his. Or vice and versa. Whichever it was, it was mostly mutualised, and Remus was far too accustomed to having access to the vast selection, and he already feared leaving school for this.

One of the many things he'd lose access to.

Remus shook his head. No, no thinking about this. Today was Sirius’ birthday, and he had to stay in a good, uplifting mood. The upcoming full moon made it hard enough. But as he thought about the bright future awaiting Sirius, he couldn't help but thinking about how grim his felt like.

Thankfully, Peter and James timely — and noisy — arrival wrenched him away from his gloomy thoughts. As he went back to his notes, Peter landed flat on his bed.

"Whatcha’ doing Moony?"

"Playlist." He flipped through the records, not sparing them a glance.

"Do you take suggestions?"

"No, piss off."

James sat heavily next to Peter, making the record player jolt.

"Ugh, you'll go full control freak over the music, won't you?"

"Yup."

"Can you at least throw in a few slow songs to dance to?" Peter whined.

"It's a party for Sirius, not for you to feel up some bird."

James wheezed at the outraged expression on Peter. "Ouuuuuh, Moony is getting testy."

"Yeah, some friend you are!" Peter added a bit gobsmacked.

"You had the last two weekend parties to pull; why you chose not to is beyond me."

James clasped his hand on Peter's back sympathetically, still cackling like a maniac. "Come on, we'd better get some food into the wolf before he grills us up and eats us whole."

Remus’ eyes kept scanning his notes, brows furrowed in an effort to concentrate. "I'm not done, I'll catch up with you later."

"Ugh, all right, but if you're not there at one, we'll have to start without you!"

Remus made a noncommittal grunt in their general direction and switched the records on the turntable as he heard the door shut.

He felt off. Everything was bugging him. The music was annoying him. He stopped it swiftly and laid back on his bed. He was so tired of his mood swings, and he had trouble imagining his friends weren't growing tired of him too. 

The silence was buzzing in his ears. It wasn't helping. He straightened back up and shuffled through the records scattered all over his bed. Listening to party music when you weren't in a party mood never is a brilliant idea. He spotted the painted paws from the corner of his eyes. One of the rare albums he's offered Sirius. How could he have not, David Bowie singing ' _Diamond Dogs_ '? It has been almost too good to be true. And very, very good. That was what he needed right now. He slipped the record out of its sleeve, put it on, and closed his curtains.

As he laid back, the howl-like sound that filled the confine of his bed felt liberating. He closed his eyes as the grim poem played on. It was oddly satisfying.

  
_’And in the death’_

_’As the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy thoroughfare’_

_’The shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building’_

_’High on Poacher's Hill’_

_’And red, mutant eyes gaze down on Hunger City’_

  
He stayed like that for a while, playing with his hair, feeling the tension slowly leaving his body as the album played on, lulled by David Bowie’s voice.

When the soft melody of _Sweet Thing_ filled the air, he felt already calmer. It had soothed him greatly. He didn't know why, but this song always reminded him of Sirius. He had never understood where it had come from. 

And now he felt like a twit. He was supposed to be with the others, preparing his arrival to the Great Hall, instead of sulking like a child in his room.

He stood up hastily and flew out the door, ignoring the mess he'd left on his bed.

As he hurried down the castle, he took a shortcut and landed on the first floor’s corridor. He stopped in his track.

Sirius was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, with a haughty look on his face — a look he had rarely seen as Sirius got older —, seemingly engaged in a staring contest with Regulus, whose own haughty look would put any Noble Heir to shame.

They both turned to look at the werewolf. He had learned not to share this kind of thoughts, but to Remus, the brothers looked so similar — yet so different. They looked like the same person had been painted by two vastly different artists. They shared the same bone structure, the same build, the same colours, the same intensity; just opposite energies which had had a tremendous impact on their appearances. And it had been even clearer since last summer. Reg sure seemed to have taken his role as new Heir to the Noble House of Black seriously. With his hair slicked back, his chest puffed, his inquisitorial expression, he almost looked older than his brother. The Powerful and the Untamed. 

The younger brother turned back to Sirius.

"Well, I hope you'll change your mind before it's too late."

Regulus spun around and walked down the corridors, passing by Remus like he hasn't seen him there.

"How about you wake up and see you’re just their puppet!" Sirius shouted at his brother's back. He was absolutely furious. Remus could feel him vibrating from twelve feet away.

Sirius turned around and walked away in a hurried, angry pace. Remus caught up with him, quite worried.

"What's going on? What happened?"

Sirius responded through gritted teeth. "Nothing."

"Hey Sirius, stop!" He caught his arm, trying to slow him down, "Tell me what happened."

"I said nothing!" he barked, batting Remus’ hand away, "I don't want to talk about it!"

Remus was taken aback. This wouldn't end well. He felt his own anger bubbling up. He hated when Sirius was sulky, and it usually ended in a screaming match between the two of them.

He swallowed the bitter feeling in his mouth and trotted up to his friend, but they were walking so fast, they had already reached to the crowded Entrance Hall. Remus spotted the two other Marauders, loitering near the huge doors and made a cancelling sign with his hand.

As they walked past James, the latter asked warily, "You okay, mate?" 

"I'm fine."

Remus was disconcerted to hear the calm and composure in Sirius’ voice. The boy sure knew how to feign indifference. 

But what had happened with Reg must have been bad, as Sirius’ wall quickly crumbled as he tried to eat. Peter's efforts to lighten up the mood were vastly unsuccessful. It wasn't long before Sirius excused himself.

"But you barely touched your food," James protested.

"I'm not hungry."

They watched him scurry out the Great Hall, feeling quite powerless.

James spun hastily towards Remus. "What happened?" he asked, quite visibly worried.

"I don't know, I think he had a row with Reggie. I walked on them arguing, and Sirius wouldn't tell me what's it all about."

James looked back towards the entrance where Sirius has disappeared, then back to his plate. He just managed one bite before deciding to go after him.

"Leave him, maybe he needs to be alone right now."

"I'm not letting him in this state!" James hissed before sprinting towards the exit.

  
. • . • . • .

  
Remus and Peter went to Defence class alone, only joined by James two minutes into the lecture. He was visibly upset. Remus nudged him, trying to see if he knew what all that was about. James shook his head. He looked a mess, visibly put off by Sirius’ sullen mood.

After the class, they had decided to all go to the dorm, trying to get him to either talk or calm down. After two highly unsuccessful attempts from Peter and James, the dark-haired boy asked Remus with pleading eyes to try something.

"You know if I go up there it's gonna be a blood bath. Whenever he's like this, we get on each other nerves and explode at each other." 

James' stare turned dark. "Well, okay, then,” he said in an accusatory tone, arms flailing on his sides, “let's just let him stew in his misery.”

He stormed out the common room, Peter at his heels, letting Remus feel like a complete knob.

And he knew he was being a knob. But to be fair, his style was more to smack sense into people, in contrast with James who was all comfort and always had the right words. And every time Sirius got this upset about his family, they went in a row, Remus sometimes feeling like Sirius was acting like a spoiled child, and Sirius responding with the nastiest words that came up in his mind.

They both had so much anger bottled up. But they have had such drastically different lives and went through diametrically opposed problems, and on top of that, having quite contrasting personalities, they sometimes had trouble understanding why the other acted the way they did or why they complained about what they had.

After a few punches thrown and hexes pronounced, way too many harsh words vociferated, and so many apologies imposed by James, they had learnt, basically, not to be absolute arseholes to one another. But usually, petulant Blacks and angry werewolves didn’t mix well.

He stayed there for a while, unable to move. He had a free period while the others were in Muggle Studies. He pondered doing some work, but felt ridiculous; he couldn't just leave Sirius like that, he knew it. He walked up the stairs, greeted with loud, angry music blasting threw the door. Remus expected it, Sirius’ signature I’m-mad-don’t-talk-to-me-album.

Sirius laid on his back, staring menacingly at the canopy of his bed, arms resolutely crossed. Yet it was still easy to decipher the sadness hidden behind his façade, if you new how to observe.

Remus sat next to his friend, elbows resting on his knees, picking at his nails, still unsure about what to do.

"I don't want to talk to anyone."

"I know," Remus said in a soft voice.

They stayed there for a while, in this ridiculous setting, not even looking at each other. Remus knew he couldn’t talk him out of his sorrow. He had realised after some time that Sirius’ feelings towards his family were too complex and intense to reason with. So he knew damn well he couldn’t help him get over it. It wasn’t something he could solve.

So he just sat there. Doing the only thing left he knew he could do: just be there. And not leave him.

Except Sirius was apparently set on listening to the same album again and again. Which, no offense to the Stooges, wasn’t exactly soothing. 

  
_‘She wants something’‘_

_‘She wants something, all right’_

  
It seemed to scratch on the angry scab that Remus was gnawing on earlier. His irritation was bubbling right back up. Towards his bleak future. Towards Sirius. Towards himself.

  
_‘But I can’t help because I’m not right’_

_‘No, no, no, no’_

_‘It’s always, it’s always this way’_

  
He stood up abruptly. For a second, he didn’t know to what end. Storm out? Scream at the poor sod who was just laying there, not asking for anything else than being left alone? The wild electric music was getting on his nerves. Made him mad at the world. No wonder Sirius was in a rotten mood listening to it for probably two hours straight. 

Remus went to his bed and bent down to retrieve the slim package he had hidden behind the wooden frame two months ago. Walking back to the turntable, he swiftly exchanged the records, ignoring Sirius’ protesting glare.

As the silence suddenly filled the room, Remus sensed the prickle of his skin evaporate, his head clear. They needed this. Slowly, the Pink Floyd’s soft, lingering notes poured out, tearing through the tension that has previously settled in the room. He sat back next to Sirius, and laid at his side. 

While they let the melody wash over them, relieving the strain in their bodies; he didn’t have to look, he could sense Sirius’ walls slowly collapsing, and the sadness beginning to submerge him, threatening to overflow and drown him. Remus turned his head to look at his friends, distinctly witnessing the boy’s jaw firmly clenched, desperately trying to hold back any kind of emotion. 

Remus reached down and took Sirius’ hand in his own. They stayed like this for what felt like minutes, occasionally punctuated by Sirius lightly trembling and silently sniffing, Remus’ thumb stroking over the other boy’s knuckles, trying to comfort him. 

  
_’Remember when you were young‘_

_’You shone like the sun‘_

_’Shine on you crazy diamond‘_

  
Sirius rolled on his side and pulled Remus into a hug, burying his face in his chest. The werewolf ran a soothing hand in his hair, and held him tight, his nose pressed on the top of his head. At this moment, he just wanted to never let go and physically shield his friend from the world — from his world. And just live in their own little world. If just, for one minute, making the outside, the future, and the past, disappear. 

  
_’You reached for the secret too soon‘_

_’You cried for the moon‘_

_’Shine on you crazy diamond‘_

  
After some time, Sirius broke the silence. “It’s nice, what is it?”

“A hug.”

The boy let out a wet laugh. “The music, you plonker.”

“It’s your birthday present.”

  
_’Come on you raver, you seer of visions‘_

_’Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!‘_

  
Remus leant back, looking down at Sirius’ face. He could barely see anything from this angle, but couldn’t help but notice the clamped eyelash and red nose. He squeezed him tighter, not wanting to let go. 

“It’s really nice.”

It wasn’t long before Remus heard the door creak open. He waved James over, and the Animagus added a third pair of arms in the hug.

Remus revelled in the waft of energy that was now emanating from Sirius; still distinctively sad, but soothed, nicer; sweeter. He’d rather have Sirius a sobbing mess than an angry git. And having him accept his darker emotions was probably a step in the right direction, he thought. And James’ hugs helped tremendously. The wanker was the best hugger.

“Where is Wormtail?” Sirius asked, still buried in his mates’ embrace.

“Snogging Leanor,” James provided. After a second of silence, they couldn’t help but chuckle at the whole situation.

“When did Wormy become the group’ stud?” he asked, throwing them all in an irrepressible cackle.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order, lyrics from:  
> \- David Bowie's _'Future Legend'_ when Remus is cranky;  
> \- The Stooges' _'Not Right'_ when Sirius is cranky;  
> \- Pink Floyd's _'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'_ to stop the boy's crankyness.


End file.
